The Silver Egg
by SilvorMoon
Summary: Jim Kido is transported to the Digital World, where he meets an odd Digimon with a mysterious past. Can he uncover his new friend's secret in time to help the Digidestined?
1. Recycled Metal

Recycled Metal  
By: SilvorMoon  
  
Jim stared out the window of his apartment, watching the sky. First there had been  
monsters of every description running all throughout the city, and then it turned out that his  
younger brother was some kind of hero with magical powers or something, and that he'd been  
running around in another dimension while he was supposed to be at summer camp. Now he was  
gone, swept up in a beam of rainbow light, into an upside-down world in the sky. It was all very  
confusing.   
  
*I remember a night like this,* he thought. *I haven't thought about it in years,  
back when Joe and I were living in Highton View Terrace. I remember him waking me up. There  
were... things out there. One of them looked like that one that was following Tai around, actually.  
I wonder if they were the same sorts of things?*  
  
He shrugged and turned back to his computer, which was on, the only source of light in  
his room. He'd been 'net surfing, trying to find out more about the monsters that were appearing  
all over the world, something more than just what was being replayed on the TV news.  
Everything he was finding out wasn't very good, and it looked like it was going to get worse.  
  
"You've got mail," his computer informed him.  
  
"I don't care!" he snapped back. Then he paused. "Wait a second. Since when does my  
computer tell me when I've got e-mail? I don't use AOL!"  
  
"I'm not talking about e-mail! I'm talking about real mail!" said the voice in the  
computer.   
  
Jim blinked. "All right, that's it. All this stress has just pushed me over the edge, and now  
I'm hearing voices in my computer. I wonder if Dad knows anything about psychology?"  
  
"I assure you, you're perfectly sane," said the voice in the computer. It was hard to be  
sure, but it sounded like the voice of an elderly man. "If you don't believe me, just go check your  
mailbox."  
  
"Okay. Why not? I guess if there can be upside-down worlds in the air and monsters on  
main street, I can have a computer that knows when I've got mail," said Jim.   
  
He got up and went to the door of his apartment. Outside on the wall was a little silver  
mailbox with a lift-up lid for safely holding letters. It was, however, immediately obvious that  
there were no letters in the box. Instead, the box had a large envelope stuffed in it, filling the small  
compartment and holding the lid in the air. With faint amazement, Jim took the envelope out and  
read the address. The return address was blank. The only writing there at all was his name  
scrawled in a strange, archaic handwriting. With a shrug, he brought it into his room, ripped it  
open, and dumped its contents onto the bed. Spilling across his blankets came a small cascade of  
styrofoam peanuts, along with a packet of carefully folded cloths. Unwrapping them left Jim with  
a large pile of rags, and, in the middle of it all, a small object, looking a bit like a digital  
stopwatch.  
  
"All that trouble for a watch?" he wondered. "Or... wait. This is one of those gizmos Joe  
and his friends were carrying, isn't it?"  
  
"It is indeed," the voice in the computer said. "It is called a Digivice. It is now yours."  
  
"Oh. Gee. Just what I always wanted," said Jim. "Just one question... what am I supposed  
to do with this thing?"  
  
"You will learn when the time is right," answered the voice. "In the meantime, you must  
join your brother in the Digital World. You are needed there."  
  
"Wait just one minute! How am I supposed to...?"  
  
In the middle of his question, the computer (somewhat rudely, he thought) turned itself  
off. He stared at it in annoyance before sighing again.   
  
"I have all the luck," he muttered. "I wonder how he expects me to get to the Digital  
World if he doesn't even give me directions or anything?"  
  
Muttering to himself, he picked up the small object to study it more closely, noting how  
comfortably it fit his hand, and how pleasantly warm it felt. In the next instant, light surrounded  
him, and he was gone.  
  
*Oh,* he thought, before the lights had him completely. *I guess that answers  
my question.*  
  
*********************************************  
  
Gennai returned to his home in a pensive mood. It was night there, as it was night in the  
real world... but at least his sky had stars in it and not upside-down worlds, even if the stars were  
larger than Earth stars and pale purple. He wandered over to an easy chair pulled up to the fire  
and sat down, suddenly feeling more tired than he had in ages.  
  
*Did I do the right thing?* he wondered. *They warned me about being  
impulsive. It was the saving of the chosen Digimon the day Piedmon attacked, but it's failed me  
other times. Perhaps it would have been different if they'd listened to me and finished making that  
final Crest...*  
  
Even in the earliest days, nine was a mystical number, one that was associated with power  
and luck. The creators of the Digivices and the Tags and Crests had not been a superstitious lot,  
but they new that there were Forces in the universe that it was wise to pay attention to, and they  
had hoped to try for nine Digidestined. They got as far as creating the ninth Digivice before  
Piedmon and his mechanical monsters attacked, and all hope for completing the project was lost.  
  
*How ironic,* thought Gennai, *that the very Digimon we had hoped to use as  
our final choice was the same kind that destroyed our laboratory.*  
  
They had been careful to choose a strong balance of different Digimon to give the  
Digidestined ammunition against almost anything: Agumon for fire, Gabumon for ice, Gomamon  
for water, Biyomon for air, Palmon for earth, Tentomon for electricity, and Patamon and  
Gatomon for their angelic potential. The final choice was to be a metal Digimon, one of the  
mechanical set. Instead, the Crest to fit the final Tag had never been completed, and the silver  
Digi-egg that would have hatched into their chosen creature had been lost before they had even  
been able to forge the link that would have bound it to its human companion.  
  
*Well, perhaps he can still do something,* Gennai thought stubbornly. *A  
human can make a Digimon digivolve even without a Digivice, much less a Tag and Crest. What  
matters is his heart, and his heart is in perfect working order. If he's lucky, perhaps he will be able  
to find a helper suited to him, even if we didn't chose it ourselves.*  
  
**************************************  
  
The Digidestined landed with a bump in unfamiliar territory... territory they didn't get long  
to look at before their companion Digimon fell out of the sky after them, burying them in a heap  
of legs, tails, fur, and feathers. There was a scramble as everyone attempted to find their way out  
of the heap and reunite themselves with their partners. Tai was the first to collect himsef (not to  
mention Koromon, still worn out from battling VenomMyotismon) and have a look around.  
  
"Yup, looks like we're back in the Digiworld, all right," he said, pulling out his telescope.  
"The place looks like kind of a mess, though. I wonder what's been going on while we're gone?"  
  
For miles around, nothing was visible but sand, rocks, and a blanket of grey fog, with no  
sign of other Digimon or even plants. The sun was lost in the thick mist, turning the world into a  
shadowless twilight realm.  
  
"This place is creepy," complained Salamon, burrowing into Kari's arms. "All this fog  
reminds me of Myotismon, and nothing smells right here."  
  
"It is rather peculiar," Izzy agreed, glancing around. "You'd think there would be some  
grass, or-"  
  
He never got around to finishing whatever he was going to say, because at that moment,  
there was a drawn-out WHAM! that shot through the earth like a bolt of underground  
lighting. Everyone was thrown headlong to the ground, tumbling again into disorganized heaps as  
something plowed up a mound of earth beneath them.   
  
"What in the world?" Sora cried out.  
  
"I don't know," Matt shouted, "but it's on its way back! Run for it!"  
  
The kids and their Digimon scattered, just barely dodging the wave of dirt and rocks that  
was rushing toward them. It rolled by harmlessly, rocketing through the soil and throwing up  
clouds of dust. Then, suddenly, it stopped, trembling ominously. With a low rumble that increased  
to an earsplitting roar, the earth opened up, and a gleaming serpentine shape shot fifty feet into  
the air, spraying a volcano of dirt and pebbles.  
  
"Guess we were wrong about there being no Digimon here!" said Koromon.  
  
"That looks like the MegaSeadramon that Zudomon fought!" said Joe. "Only that one  
wasn't so shiny. What is it?"  
  
"That thing is worse than a MegaSeadramon," Gomamon replied. "It's a full-grown  
MetalSeadramon - and it's coming right at us!"  
  
With a resounding roar, the dragonlike beast swooped down on them all, and they threw  
themselves into the sand as he rushed over their heads, missing them by inches. MetalSeadramon  
laughed.  
  
"You little shrimps are the Digidestined?" he boomed. "I was expecting you to be  
something impressive! You're going to be easy to pick off, if all you can do is cower in  
the dirt! Some legendary slayers of evil Digimon you turned out to be!"  
  
"Hey, don't destroy them until I've had a chance to play with them!" said a voice like  
creaking wood. The Digidestined turned to see a small wooden Digimon carrying a large metal  
hammer come clattering out of the fog. It would have been a comical looking creature if the look  
on its face hadn't been so completely malevolent.  
  
"We are not going to destroy them yet, Puppetmon," a new voice rumbled. It was deep  
and grating, so low as to be difficult to hear. With heavy, clanking footsteps that made the ground  
tremble almost as much as MetalSeadramon's arrival had, an enormous iron dragon stepped into  
view. "There will be time for that later."  
  
"Are you sure we can't destroy them now? I could use a snack," said MetalSeadramon.  
  
"Not until I get to play with them!" Puppetmon whined. "Piedmon promised I'd get to  
play with them, and I'm gonna play with them!"  
  
"Silence!" the iron dragon roared.   
  
The other two were instantly silent.  
  
"That's better," it said. "Puppetmon, the introductions."  
  
"Right," the wooden Digimon replied. "Listen up, Digidestined! We're the Dark Masters,  
ruler of the Digital World! I'm Puppetmon, master of the forest! Up there is MetalSeadramon -  
he's the most dangerous thing in the oceans. That big brute there is MachineDramon, Piedmon's  
most loyal servant. He'll blow up anything Piedmon tells him to, including you! Piedmon is our  
leader, the most powerful Digimon in the whole wide world! He's too important to come down  
here and mess with you digi-twits, so he sent us to deliver a message: surrender now, or all of you  
will be destroyed!"  
  
"I don't think so!" said Tai. "We'll never surrender to the likes of you - or that Piedmon,  
whatever he is."  
  
"Fools! Surrender!" Puppetmon shouted. "This is your last chance! Hand over your  
Digivices, Tags, and Crests and swear to serve Piedmon, or you'll be really sorry!"  
  
"That's a threat?" said Matt. "Forget it, you pile of walking firewood! You can't scare us.  
We've fought tougher things than you and blew them to digital dust."  
  
"Ha! That's a laugh!" MetalSeadramon jeered. "Rookies and In-Training Digimon stand  
no chance against three Mega Digimon!"  
  
"Then I guess we'll just have to take it up a level!" Tai shouted back. "Give it everything  
you've got, guys! It's digivolving time!"  
  
To the amazement of the Dark Masters, the fog-filled plains were suddenly filled with  
shimmering lights, and they turned away from the blinding radiance. When they could finally see  
again, they were faced with an imposing line of fighters: Angemon, Angewomon, Zudomon,  
MegaKabuterimon, Palmon, and Garudamon, led by MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon.  
  
"What!?" Puppetmon squealed. "You can't do that! It's against the rules!"  
  
"Not in my rulebook!" Tai laughed. "Go get 'em, gang!"  
  
"I know a thing or two about fighting Seadramon," MetalGarurumon growled. "Leave  
him to me!"  
  
"I've fought bigger Seadramon than you!" Zudomon told him. "Let me lend a hand - or a  
hammer!"  
  
"Master of the forest, huh?" said Lillymon, glaring at Puppetmon. "I know a plant  
Digimon who'd like to challenge you about that!"  
  
"Let me help! I know a few bugs who would like to chew on him!" MegaKabuterimon  
added.  
  
Listening to the threats, Puppetmon glared at MetalSeadramon.  
  
"You think this is going to be easy, huh?" he asked. "They don't look so weak now, do  
they?"  
  
"Okay, so I underestimated them!" MetalSeadramon snapped.  
  
"Quiet!" MachineDramon roared. "Look at you, afraid of a few undertrained upstarts! No  
Champion or Ultimate can hope to stand up to a Mega Digimon of our experience level. Now, get  
out there and start fighting!"  
  
With a roar, the iron dragon charged at them, metal feet clashing on the rocky earth with  
earsplitting clangs, and the Digidestined scattered to avoid blasts from the cannons mounted on its  
back. Taking courage from MachineDramon's boldness, MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon began  
attacks of their own. There was no choice for the good Digimon but to retaliate with everything  
they had as they attempted to protect their human companions.  
  
"This is crazy!" Izzy shouted as he dove for shelter behind a boulder. "Our Digimon are  
going to get creamed!"  
  
"Don't you think MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon can handle these chumps?" asked  
Matt.  
  
"Think? I know they can't!" said Izzy. He was typing furiously on his laptop,  
making it spill waves of black letters and numbers across the screen. "See? These are the power  
readings for those enemy Digimon. They've been Megas for way longer than our Digimon have,  
so they have much more power and experience. We can't win in just a regular battle - we need a  
plan of some sort..."  
  
"Plan later! I say we get out and blast them!" said Tai.  
  
"Negative," Izzy replied. "Hang on a minute while I try to scan for weaknesses."  
  
Meanwhile, the Digimon were waging a fierce battle - in the sky, on the ground, even  
below the earth, as MetalSeadramon drove into the sand to burst back up in explosions that  
knocked everyone off their feet. Then he would take to the sky again to be pursued by the various  
winged Digimon, while their earthbound partners dodged blasts from MachineDramon's canons  
and Puppetmon's hammer.   
  
"I've had enough of this!" said WarGreymon. "It's time to get serious! Terra  
Force!"  
  
Power gathered in his outstretched claws, a ball of fire that flashed and expanded like the  
birth of a sun. Soon he had a fireball larger than himself suspended over his head and... waiting.  
  
"You think you can hurt me with that?" MachineDramon rumbled. "Foolish Digimon. You  
should know you can't burn metal!"  
  
"Don't listen to him!" Tai shouted. "Go ahead and blast him!"  
  
"Wait a minute, Tai!" said Izzy. "MachineDramon is right - that fireball's not going to do  
a thing to him, unless... hey, Kari, come here a minute! I think I've got an idea!"  
  
"What kind of idea?" asked Kari, hurrying obediently closer.  
  
"Could you call Angewomon down here for me? I think I know how we can defeat  
MachineDramon, but we're going to need her help."  
  
"Sure," she agreed. "Hey, Angewomon! Can you come down here a minute? Izzy needs to  
talk to you."  
  
"I'm kind of busy right now!" Angewomon called back as she dodged a blast from  
MetalSeadramon.  
  
"It's really important!" Kari encouraged.  
  
"Well, if you really think it's imprortant..." Angewomon abruptly folded her wings and  
dropped out of the sky, narrowly missing being hit by a River of Power attack - then flipped them  
open again in time to dodge one of Puppetmon's blasts. She landed next to Kari with her feathers  
ruffled and leaned down to listen to Izzy's request.  
  
"Could you hurry it up?" WarGreymon shouted. "My arms are getting tired!"  
  
"Don't worry! I'm on it!" Angewomon replied.   
  
Leaping into the air once more, Angewomon produced her bow and began taking careful  
aim at MachineDramon. The other Dark Masters, sensing something interesting was about to  
happen, paused in their attacks to watch, but MachineDramon simply sat and glared at her.   
  
"You think you can harm me with that little trick?" he asked scornfully. "As I recall, you  
couldn't even destroy Mytismon properly with it! It will take a great deal more to defeat me."  
  
"We'll see about that," answered Angewomon. "Celestial Arrow!"  
  
The arrow flew straight and true. It just barely nicked MachineDramon's exterior,  
severing a few cables on its way by. MachineDramon stared in puzzlement as his tubing began to  
leak oil and fuel.  
  
"Was that it?" he asked.  
  
"That was more than enough," said Izzy exultantly. "All right, WarGreymon, let it rip!"  
  
"About time!" WarGreymon replied. "Eat this, you overgrown lawnmower!"  
  
The fireball fell from the sky and engulfed MachineDramon in roaring flames. They licked  
hungrily at the spilled gasoline and oil, working their way up into the tubing as they searched for  
the source. The metal dragon thrashed insanely as he felt the fires invading his fuel cells.  
  
"No! Stop it! You can't do this to me! Noooooo!  
  
There was an earth-shaking explosion, and the Digidestined dove for cover with their  
Digimon copying their example. MachineDramon vanished in a final spurt of flame and black smoke.  
Puppetmon and MetalSeadramon stared in blank shock, then turned to each other apprehensively.  
  
"What do we do now?" asked MetalSeadramon.  
  
"I think a retreat sounds like a good idea," Puppetmon replied.  
  
MetalSeadramon stared at the crater where MachineDramon had been a moment ago.  
Now there was nothing more to be seen but some rocks and blackened earth.  
  
"You never said a truer word, Puppetmon," he said. "But don't think you can get away  
with this, Digidestined! We'll be back, and next time, you'll the ones ending up as  
craters!"  
  
"We'll be glad to take you up on that," said Matt, getting up to stand next to  
MetalGarurumon. The steel wolf stared coldly at the Dark Masters, adding his silent agreement.  
  
"We're not going to forget this!" Puppetmon said. "You can bet, when Piedmon hears  
about this, you'll wish you never returned to the Digital World!"   
  
With that, Puppetmon sprang onto MetalSeadramon's head, and they flew off into the sky,  
where they were obliterated by fog. As soon as they were gone, the other Digimon reverted to  
their more comfortable forms to join their companions in celebration.  
  
"Man! That was easier than I thought it would be!" said Tai. "Great idea, Izzy. If we keep  
up teamwork like that, we won't have any problems with these Dark Master things."  
  
"It was nothing. Just a little practical application of a sound understanding of  
combustion," said Izzy modestly. "Besides, it was Angewomon and WarGreymon who did the  
real work."  
  
"We all did a good job," said Tai. "And we're going to do the same thing to those  
other monsters as we did to that MachineDramon, right?"  
  
"Right!" everyone agreed.  
  
"It looks like the fog is lifting," Gatomon noted. "I think I can see something over there.  
Do the rest of you see it?"  
  
Looking in the direction Gatomon was pointing, the group could just barely make out the  
shape of something dark rising against the skyline, stabbing at the sky like an accusatory finger.  
  
"It looks like a mountain," said Joe. "Do you think it could be Infinity Mountain?"  
  
"One way to find out," Tai replied. "If it is Infinity Mountain, we can climb it and  
get a look at everything. Then maybe we can see what these Dark Masters have been doing."  
  
"What if that's where the Dark Masters are living?" asked Sora. "It's the best vantage  
point for miles around. They probably like to keep an eye on what all the other Digimon on the  
island are doing."  
  
"All the more reason to go there," Tai replied. "Come on, gang! Let's make some tracks!"  
  
Beckoning for his friends to follow, Tai turned and began jogging in the direction of the  
mountain, with Agumon following close behind. The other Digidestined hurried to catch up with  
no more than a few sighs of resignation and murmured complaints.   
  
However, if the Digidestined and their companions had lingered a bit longer, they would  
have seen an interesting sight. From out of the crater, something small and shiny crept into the  
light. It looked like a small, smooth, electric mouse, with small red eyes that lit up, a pair of metal  
ears like lightning bolts, and an antenna-tail. Its eyes blinked, on and off, as it inspected the world  
that had suddenly gotten a lot bigger.  
  
"Hmm," it said thoughtfully. And then, "Oh! Choromon!"  
  
It had remembered its name, and that pleased it. It whirred around in a small circle,  
shooting sparks from the tip of its tail in celebration. Then it paused, as it suddenly remembered  
something else. Something was missing. The Choromon had lost something, something very  
important, and it had to go looking for it. Whirring and clicking, Choromon trundled off into the  
desert.  
  
************************************  
  
When Jim reappeared, he found himself standing among a group of rocks. The sun seemed  
to be setting, throwing dark shadows across the sandy earth... or perhaps it was rising. Which was  
east and which was west? Jim spun around, as if he might find a compass lying somewhere, but  
quickly gave up the attempt as futile.   
  
"Where the heck am I?" he said aloud.   
  
"You are in Digiworld," a voice answered.   
  
Jim whirled around. In a place where nothing had been before, there was now a faintly  
shimmering column of light, and in the center of it, he could just barely make out the image of an  
elderly man.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Jim.  
  
"I am called Gennai, and I am a friend," the man replied. "It is I who brought you here."  
  
"You brought me into another dimension just to drop me in the middle of a desert?" Jim  
asked incredulously. "Where is everybody? I thought there were supposed to be monsters or  
something. Is my brother here?"  
  
"Your brother is nearby. I have brought you as close to him as I can, but my power here is  
limited. I was lucky to get you this far. You'll have to find your friends on your own. Good luck!"  
  
"Hey, wait! Come back here!" Jim cried, but it was too late. The light had already  
vanished. He sighed.  
  
"Just my luck. Stuck in some weird sci-fi world without even a toothbrush," Jim said. "I  
guess I should start looking for the others... but where do I go?"  
  
He didn't know. The rocks looked just the same in all directions. With a shrug, he closed  
his eyes, spun around in a circle, and began to walk. He was very glad he was wearing his  
sneakers; the rocky ground was enough to make his feet hurt even with the shoes' thick soles to  
cushion them. The air was uncomfortably warm, and the grit-laden wind moaned eerily amid the  
rocks as it pelted him with stinging particles of sand. He began to wonder why his brother was  
going through all the bother of saving this Digital World if all of it was like this.   
  
Suddenly, his attention was caught by a strange sound, something that had nothing to do  
with wind or rocks. It sounded like a metallic clunking noise. Curious, he began jogging toward it,  
trying not to trip on the uneven ground. As he drew closer, he realized whatever was causing the  
noise was also speaking, carrying on a monologue in a humming, nasal voice. Jim rounded a  
corner and found himself face to face with one of the oddest beings he had ever chanced to meet  
in his lifetime, a creature that appeared to be made entirely of three gears. It turned two beady  
eyes to look at him.  
  
"You're a human!" it hummed.  
  
"Obviously," Jim replied. "What in the world are you?"  
  
"I am a Gearmon," the thing replied. "I am looking for the humans that destroyed my Lord  
MachineDramon. The only humans in the Digiworld are the Digidestined. You are a human. Since  
it is my duty to destroy the Digidestined, I must destroy you!"  
  
"Hey, now, wait just a minute!" Jim protested. "I'm not one of your Digi-whatevers! I  
didn't have anything to do with that! I don't even know what a MachineDramon is!"  
  
"That's just what you would say if you had destroyed him," the Gearmon insisted.  
"Prepare to be destroyed, human!"  
  
In the meantime, the Choromon was still trundling along on its tiny wheels, chirping and  
sparking to itself. It was beginning to get puzzled. It had to find the thing it had lost, and yet it  
could not remember what it was or where it might be. This was very strange, because Choromon  
knew that it had always had this important thing for its entire life and had treasured it. How could  
it forget what this thing was? Sparks shot from the Choromon's tail in frustration.  
  
Suddenly, the Choromon's ears twitched. Something was going on nearby. Curiosity  
aroused, it began rolling quickly toward the noise, gears grinding as it forced itself to move along  
at top speed. Maybe whoever was making all the racket had found the thing he'd lost! However,  
as he came to the top of a heap of slag, he was disappointed to see that it was only a Gearmon  
and another funny creature. Choromon stared, his ruby eyes blinking on and off in puzzlement. He  
had never seen anything to rival the funny creature that was talking to the Gearmon, but he had a  
feeling it was very important. As a matter of fact, just looking at the creature made Choromon  
feel topsy-turvy inside, and the realization that the creature was in danger threw him completely  
off-balance, and he could feel his world turning dark and spinning as he called out...  
  
"Choromon, digivolve to... Kapurimon!"  
  
In the next instant, Jim was astounded to see a silver and purple blur fall out of the sky. It  
hit the Gearmon with a resounding BONK! and bounced, landing directly at Jim's feet.  
The Gearmon toppled noisily to the ground and sat there whirring. The silver and purple thing  
glared at it with a fierce light in its wide brown eyes, and Jim looked down at it in shock.  
  
This new little monster was a vaguely raccoon-like thing about the size of a basketball,  
mostly head with a bushy tail sprouting from the back. The parts of it that were visible were  
covered in purple and white fur - white for the face and the rings of its tail and purple for the rest  
of it - but it was hidden from the nose up in a shiny silver helmet with conical ears. It spoke in a  
childish male voice.  
  
"Ha! Gotcha, didn't I!" it taunted. "Don't make me do that again!"  
  
"Why, you little...!" the Gearmon snarled, finally managing to set itself upright again.  
"You ought to know better than to mess with a servant of Lord MachineDramon!"  
  
"I'm not a'scared of your ol' Lord MachineDramon!" the raccoon-thing barked back. "If  
he was here, I'd blow him all to bits, just like this - Bubble Blow!"  
  
The peculiar little animal took a deep breath and puffed out a stream of pink bubbles. They  
rained down on the Gearmon, who flinched and backed away, trying vainly to protect its face.  
  
"Ha, you don't like that, do ya?" the little animal laughed. "There's more where that came  
from, too, so you'd better get packing before I really get mad!"  
  
"All right, all right!" the Gearmon muttered. "That human doesn't look like a  
Digidestined, anyway. It probably just wandered in by mistake. You can have it!"  
  
Grumbling to itself, the Gearmon wandered off. Jim breathed a sigh of relief and turned to  
face his rescuer.  
  
"Thanks a lot for your help," he said. "It's a good thing you came along when you did, or  
that monster might have eaten me or something!"  
  
"Nah, Gearmon don't eat people. They're not that tough," the little creature replied. "I'm  
Kapurimon! What kind of a Digimon are you?"  
  
"Me? Well, I'm a... I'm a human, actually," Jim said.  
  
Kapurimon tilted his head in puzzlement. "A Hyumon? I've never heard of a Hyumon  
before."  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm not from around here. I came in from another world," Jim explained.  
"Now I'm lost, and I'm trying to find my brother and his friends."  
  
"Brother?" Kapurimon repeated. "What's a brother? Is it something important you can  
lose? I lost something important, and now I've got to find it, only I can't remember what it is."  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Jim, "but I think if you'd lost a brother, you would know it.  
He's part of my family - we're both sons of the same mother and father."  
  
"Family? Sons? Mother? Father? You speak weird words in your other world," said  
Kapurimon. "I never heard of any of that stuff."  
  
Jim took a deep breath to launch a detailed explanation, but quickly deflated. How in the  
world did you explain the concept of reproduction to a critter that didn't even have a concept of  
mother and father? He decided to try a different tactic.  
  
"Family means he's someone I've lived with for a long time - like a friend, only we live in  
the same house and he looks kind of like me," he explained. "He's got a bunch of other friends  
with him, humans like us, only we don't look as much alike. You wouldn't happen to have seen  
them, would you?"  
  
"More Hyumons?" Kapurimon repeated. "Hmm. I think I remember seeing some  
Hyumons. I saw them... back that way!" He gestured with his tail, pointing back in the direction  
he had come from.  
  
"It must be them!" said Jim happily. "Man, why did that Gennai guy drop me out here in  
the middle of nowhere when he could have put me with them? Thanks, Kapurimon. You've been  
a big help."  
  
"You're welcome, Hyumon," Kapurimon replied.  
  
Jim chuckled. "You don't have to call me that. Call me Jim. It's easier to say."  
  
"Jim," Kapurimon repeated. "JimHyumon. Funny name."  
  
"JimKidoHyumon," Jim agreed, grinning. "Very funny. So... do you have any idea where  
you lost your... something important?"  
  
"No," said Kapurimon sadly. "I can't remember at all!"  
  
"So the thing you lost is just as likely to be over that way as anywhere else, right?" asked  
Jim.  
  
"I guess so," Kapurimon agreed.  
  
"As a matter of fact, its even more likely to be there, since you know you've been there  
before, but you don't know you've been over here, right?"  
  
"I guess that, too."  
  
"Well, then, how would you like to come along with me for a while?" asked Jim. "Then at  
least we can be lost together, until we find what we're looking for."  
  
Kapurimon considered. The Hyumon it had found seemed to be fairly clever - a lot more  
clever than Kapurimon. It had even helped Kapurimon to digivolve! He seemed like a very nice  
creature, even if he was funny looking and talked with weird words. On the other hand, he didn't  
know how to defend himself against silly Gearmon, but Kapurimon did. They could take care of  
each other if they traveled together.  
  
"Kapurimon will go with JimHyumon!" it decided.  
  
"Great!" Jim exclaimed. "Glad to have you with me. Do you mind if I pick you up? We'll  
make better time if I carry you over these rocks."  
  
Kapurimon couldn't think of any reason why not, so he hopped into Jim's arms and settled  
himself in comfortably. Once he got used to Jim's loping gait, he realized it was actually a very  
nice way to travel.   
  
*There's something about this JimHyumon that reminds me of what I lost,* he  
thought. *I wonder what it is?*  
  
***********************************  
  
Puppetmon cringed in the shadows, shuffling along with his joints trembling like a tree in a  
strong wind. With extreme reluctance, he made his way up to the base of the throne where  
Piemon, Master of the Dark Masters, was keeping watch over his domain. He didn't even take his  
eyes off the viewing screen in front of him until Puppetmon cleared his throat.  
  
"Oh, it's you," he said boredly, glancing down at his cohort. "Back so soon? Those  
Digidestined must not have been as formidable as the reports made out. Such a pity; I was hoping  
they would provide a distraction. When one has everything under one's control, things become  
dreadfully predictable."  
  
"Well, actually, things didn't go quite exactly the way we planned," said Puppetmon.  
  
"Oh, really?" asked Piedmon. He turned his deceptively bland gaze on his servant. "All  
right, how did you three manage to foul things up this time?"  
  
"It wasn't my fault!" Puppetmon cried. "It was that MachineDramon! He gave the order  
to attack! We were just following his orders!"  
  
"Don't go shifting the blame to him," said Piedmon. "Unlike some people I could  
mention, MachineDramon is a dependable Digimon. Where is he? Let him tell his side of the  
story."  
  
"That's just it, Piedmon," Puppetmon replied. "He's not here anymore. The Digidestined  
blew him sky-high!"  
  
"That," Piedmon replied, "is impossible. Completely and utterly impossible. I would know  
if MachineDramon had been destroyed, and I have noticed nothing of the sort."  
  
"I saw it with my own eyes!" insisted Puppetmon. "There was this huge explosion -  
KABOOM! - and no more MachineDramon."  
  
"Are you contradicting me?" asked Piedmon. "I would think by now you would know  
better than to contradict me when I tell you something."  
  
"Oh, no! I would never do that, Piedmon. It's just that, well, um..."  
  
Piedmon sighed. "Look. I'll show you myself that MachineDramon hasn't been destroyed,  
if that's the only way I can get that fact through your termite-ridden skull. Look."  
  
Waving one hand in a graceful gesture at the video terminal, the screen shimmered and  
shifted, altering the view from one of barren plains of grey stone to the warmer, sandier  
environment favored by MetalSeadramon. It zoomed in on a dark moving speck that gradually  
became discernable as a human boy carrying a raccoon-like In-Training Digimon.  
  
"There? You see?" asked Piedmon. "Completely alive."  
  
Puppetmon leaned closer to the screen. "Are you sure? That doesn't look much like  
MachineDramon to me."  
  
"I will overlook that comment," said Piedmon, "because I know that your brain is full of  
knotholes. That, for your information, is Kapurimon, MachineDramon's In-Training form. He has  
simply lost a bit of his power and needs to recharge. In a week or two, he'll be in top fighting  
form again and ready to pay back those Digidestined brats - in spades!" He pulled a playing card  
out of the air and flipped it over, revealing the Ace of Spades on the front, and then made it  
vanish again in a burst of blue flame. Puppetmon clapped appreciatively.  
  
"That's great, Piedmon," he said. "I've just got one little question... why is he following  
that human around?"  
  
"Hmm?" Piedmon turned to stare more closely at the picture. "Hmm. Well, that's  
unexpected. This was not part of my plan..."  
  
"Are we in trouble?" asked Puppetmon anxiously. "You don't think he's gonna turn on us  
or something, do you?"  
  
Piedmon made a swift motion with one hand, and a stiletto knife whizzed through the air  
and sliced off the tip of Puppetmon's nose.  
  
"Hey!" he yelped. "Watch it! You chipped it!"  
  
"Maybe that will teach you to question my authority," Piedmon replied. "If I can control  
fifteen tons of steel, I can control a little furry animal, and no human, not even a Digidestined  
human, can change that. There is simply no way MachineDramon's loyalty to me will ever  
change. He cannot leave. He has no choice in the matter."  
  
"If you say so," Puppetmon agreed.   
  
"I do," Piedmon replied, "and that ought to be enough for you. MetalSeadramon, report! I  
want a word with you!"  
  
There was a rumbling in the depths of the castle, and then MetalSeadramon shot up from a  
chute in the floor to coil himself at Piedmon's feet. This could only be accomplished because the  
throne he was using put him well off the ground; otherwise the sea dragon would have towered  
above him.  
  
"Did somebody mention me?" MetalSeadramon inquired.  
  
"Yes," answered Piedmon. "I have a little assignment for you. Those bothersome  
Digidestined children are in your territory right now, so that makes them your responsibility. Find them,  
destroy them, and bring their Tags, Crests, and Digivices back to me. You can do that, can't  
you?"  
  
"But - but - but!" MetalSeadramon stammered. "Um, I don't mean to complain or  
anything, but did you see what those kids did to MachineDramon? I'm not letting that happen to  
me!"  
  
"Then you had better be a little more careful this time, hadn't you?" Piedmon replied.  
  
"Well, I, um..."  
  
"Good. I'm glad you agree with me," said Piedmon brusquely. "Now go away before you  
make me ill - or did you know you positively reek of fish?"  
  
"I'm going, I'm going," MetalSeadramon replied. He turned and dove back down the  
tunnel, but he could be heard muttering to himself long after he was gone.  
  
"Well, that takes care of that," said Piedmon. "We won't have to worry about those  
Digidestined now that MetalSeadramon is on the job. They can't live long without water, and the  
minute they get near a river or ocean, they'll be swamped by every horror the depths have to  
offer, and this whole problem will be... oh, how do they say it? Water under the bridge." He  
chuckled at his own joke.  
  
"What about MachineDramon?" asked Puppetmon. His attention was still fixed on the  
viewing screen, where Kapurimon and the human were walking along and chatting with each  
other as if they hadn't a care in the world. No matter what Piedmon said, the little raccoon  
Digimon looked as if he was perfectly happy to stay where he was.  
  
"Disgusting, isn't it?" said Piedmon with a sneer. "But it doesn't matter. As I said, he  
can't help but come back. I hold his very soul in my hand, and he will never be able to find  
comfort or rest until he is reunited with it. Once again, I am left holding all the cards." He turned  
his gaze back to the screen, staring at Jim with a calculating expression. "It is very strange,  
though, that he should befriend one of those humans so easily... but no. Kapurimon can never be  
soul-bonded to a human as long as I control him. I can afford to wait. Given time, he can't help  
but come back..."  
  
********************************  
  
Night was slowly falling over the DigiWorld, bringing with it cooler air and a sprinkling of  
stars. Through the falling twilight, Jim trudged wearily on, too tired to do much more than scuff  
his feet in the dirt. Kapurimon had long since given in to the temptation of sleep, and he dozed  
peacefully in Jim's arms. Even in his exhaustion, Jim found the energy to look down at his little  
traveling companion and smile. Even though his head knew he should be worried about going  
back home before his parents began to worry, something in his heart was telling him it was more  
natural that he be here in this strange world carrying an armored raccoon. Already he was starting  
to feel fond of Kapurimon - the little animal had already begun to show a strong streak of loyalty  
to his new "Hyumon," sticking close to his side and driving off any other curious Digimon that  
got too close. Now, seeing the creature sleeping contentedly in his arms gave him a feeling of  
warmth that made it worth the pain in his arms caused by carrying the weight of Kapurimon's  
metal helmet.  
  
With a sigh, Jim turned his mind away from thoughts of his new friend and began thinking  
instead of just what he was going to do next. Despite the fact that they had been traveling all day,  
they had not seen any sign of Joe or the other kids. Now he was beginning to have doubts that  
he'd ever find them - after all, Kapurimon hadn't been totally sure he'd seen anyone, admitting  
only to having a vague memory of seeing them. As far as he could say, the others could have  
passed by days ago, if they had even been there at all. For some odd reason, the otherwise  
intelligent Digimon seemed to have a very patchy memory where his past was concerned. Jim was  
beginning to wonder if he'd ever find his brother or his way home. As tiredness began to turn into  
malaise, he was becoming slowly convinced that he would be lost in this Digital World forever  
with only a talking animal for companionship.  
  
Suddenly, a flicker of light caught his eye, and he strained through the darkness to try to  
make it out. There appeared to be a grove of trees following the winding course of a stream, and  
sheltered within their shadows was a warm orange glow, just the kind a good campfire would  
make. If he stared hard, he thought he could see a number of shapes moving around at the edges  
of the light.  
  
"Hey, Kapurimon, wake up!" he said. "I think I see something!"  
  
"Hmm? Wha? What's going on?" Kapurimon asked sleepily. He blinked his eyes to shake  
off a dream. Then the brightness came back to his features in a rush as something caught his  
attention. "Hey! I smell Hyumons!"  
  
"All right!" Jim cheered. "It has to be Joe and the others!"  
  
Weariness forgotten, Jim launched into a sprint that was very unlike his usual calm  
demeanor, and Kapurimon squealed in glee. Soon they reached the edge of the grove, drawing  
close enough to hear the murmur of voices and smell the scents of wood smoke and cooking  
food.  
  
"Hello?" Jim called. "Hey! Is anyone there?"  
  
Crouched next to the campfire, Joe suddenly glanced up from his meal. He'd had a long,  
hard day trying to keep up with the group's exuberant leader. Tai had pushed the team as far as he  
could that day, but eventually he'd been forced to come to grips with the fact that the mountain in  
the distance was a lot further away than it had looked. When Mimi started to complain of blisters  
and Matt had demanded a halt before T.K. collapsed, Tai had finally given in and let them strike  
camp next to the river. Joe had been making an honest effort not to live up to his reputation as a  
complainer, or he otherwise would have expressed his exhaustion along with the rest of them.  
Unlike Tai and Sora, he wasn't much of an athlete. Now that he had finally stopped moving, he  
was beginning to realize the full extent of his weariness.  
  
"I think I'm hearing things," he said to Gomamon, for lack of any other audience. "I could  
have sworn I just heard my brother."  
  
"I must be hearing what you're hearing, because I think I heard him, too," Gomamon  
replied. "Either that or there's a Parrotmon around here who knows your brother."  
  
"Maybe we'd better check this out," said Joe. "Hey, everyone, quiet down a minute!"  
  
"What's the matter, Joe?" asked Tai. "You aren't getting another of your migraines or  
something, are you?"  
  
"No, I thought I heard something," Joe answered. "See? There it went again!"  
  
The group became still, and in the silence they were able to catch the sound of someone  
shouting in the distance.  
  
"It is my brother!" Joe exclaimed. "Hey, Jim! Over here!"  
  
"Joe!" shouted Jim. He came crashing through the underbrush and emerged at the edge of  
the campsite, grinning exultantly. "Am I ever glad to see you guys! I was afraid I'd never see  
another human ever!"  
  
"Jim?" asked Sora, perplexed. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"This weird old guy named Gennai sent me here," said Jim. "No explanation, no warning,  
just a flash of light, and here I am. So... how do I get back home?"  
  
"You don't," sighed Mimi. "Not without fighting a bunch of evil Digimon, anyway."  
  
"Oh, great," said Jim, collapsing to the ground with a sigh. "You mean I'm trapped here?"  
  
"Not forever," Tai replied. "Just until we destroy all the evil Digimon. Mimi's not the  
sharpest pencil in the box, but she's right about some things."  
  
"Hey, Jim," Sora interjected, "since when do you have a Digimon?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, you mean Kapurimon! He's not really my Digimon," said Jim. "That is, I don't  
think he really belongs to me like you guys belong with your Digimon. He just kind of decided to  
follow me around."  
  
Kapurimon nodded. "I like JimHyumon. He's nice to me. He's going to help me find the  
thing I lost."  
  
"That's funny," said T.K., looking at the two of them. "He sure looks like he's your  
Digimon. You remind me of when we all got our Digimon for the first time - they were all little  
like that. You've even got a Digivice like we do!"  
  
"I what?" Jim glanced down at the object he'd clipped to his belt. "Is that what this thing's  
called? A Digivice? I wondered about it."  
  
"You've got a Digivice? Let me see!" Tai bounced up from where he was sitting and went  
to take a look. Jim offered it up for examination, and Tai studied it with more intensity than he  
would have given his homework.  
  
"It's the real thing, all right," said Tai. "Where did you find this, Jim?"  
  
Jim shrugged. "In the mail."  
  
"The mail?" Kari repeated. "How in the world did you get a Digivice in the mail? I had to  
go through all kinds of trouble to get mine."  
  
"It was that Gennai character again," said Jim. "He showed up in my computer. Who is  
he, anyway?"  
  
"He's... kind of like our mentor," Izzy explained. "If he chose you, it's got to be official.  
You're one of us - the Digidestined!"  
  
"Digi... Destined?" Jim repeated dubiously. "I don't know if I like that. It sounds awfully...  
permanent."  
  
"It's not so bad, once you get used to it," said Matt, leaning comfortably against  
Gabumon's furry side. "Which is not to say that it doesn't get pretty freaky at times, but still, it's  
not so bad."  
  
"If you say so," Jim sighed.  
  
"What's the matter?" asked Kapurimon. "Don't you want to stay here with me for a  
while?"  
  
That made Jim smile again. "Of course I want to stay with you, Kapurimon. We're friends,  
right?"  
  
"Yeah!" Kapurimon agreed.  
  
"There's no mistaking that," said Sora. "Kapurimon must be your Digimon. Anyone can  
see the way you fit together."  
  
"You think so, huh?" Jim replied.  
  
"Definitely," Matt agreed. "And I carry the Crest of Friendship, so I ought to know!"  
  
"Well, you'd be the expert, I guess," Jim replied. "Anyway, I'm starved. What do  
Digidestined eat for dinner?"  
  
"Fish kebabs," answered Joe.  
  
"Don't you mean shish kebabs?" asked Jim.  
  
"No," said Gatomon, handing him a trout on a stick. "Definitely fish kebabs."  
  
Jim stared at the fish dubiously. "This doesn't exactly constitute a well-balanced meal."  
  
"Do you see any four-star restaurants around here?" asked Matt. "If you do, let us know,  
and we'll go eat there."  
  
"No! No restaurants," said Joe. "Or have you forgotten Veggimon's diner?"  
  
"Please, don't remind me!" Matt replied. "After that run-in with Digitamamon, I don't  
think I'll ever look at another hard-boiled egg the same way again!"  
  
"I guess the culinary establishments in Digiworld aren't the greatest," Jim sighed. "Oh,  
well. Guess I can live off fish kebabs for a while."  
  
"What's wrong, JimHymon?" asked Kapurimon, chomping on a fish of his own. "I think  
this is pretty good food!"  
  
"I'm sure it is," said Jim, "and you really don't have to call me 'JimHyumon' all the time.  
'Jim' will do just fine. And these people are called Matt, Tai, Sora, Mimi, Kari, T.K., Izzy, and  
that's my brother Joe."  
  
"So that's what a brother looks like," said Kapurimon. "I think you're right - the thing I  
lost wasn't a brother. It must have been something else."  
  
"My brother Tai is here," said Kari thoughtfully, "and T.K.'s brother Matt is here, and  
Joe's brother Jim is here. Does anyone else have any brothers I should know about?"  
  
"I have a hamster," Mimi volunteered.  
  
"I don't think that's quite the same thing," said Izzy.  
  
"Kapurimon, I can tell you one thing right now," said Jim. "If you really are going to  
follow this bunch around, you're going to have one interesting trip."  
  
"You'd better believe it!" said Tai. "You ought to hear how it's been so far!"  
  
"Tell me," Jim replied. "It'll take my mind off my food."  
  
So while Jim picked at fishbones, the other Digidestined told the story of their journey to  
the Digiworld, the discovery of their Digimon companions, Black Gears, Tags and Crests, Dark  
Networks, and all the other incredible things they'd seen and done. At last the storytelling wound  
down, the meal was finished, and the fire died, and Jim decided he'd seen and heard enough for  
one day. He followed his friends' examples as they curled up next to the embers for some well-  
deserved sleep. The other Digimon snuggled down next to their companions, but Kupurimon  
continued hopping around the campsite, sniffing the air and digging through the leaves. He really  
did look like he was searching for something he'd lost.  
  
"Aren't you going to sleep, Kapurimon?" Jim asked.  
  
"No, not yet. I'm not sleepy," Kapurimon replied. "I'm going to stay up and stand guard  
in case there are any more Gearmon or something."  
  
"Well, don't stay up too late," said Jim. "We'll probably have a long day tomorrow, and  
you'll need your strength."  
  
"I know," Kapurimon agreed. After a pause, he added, "Do you think I'll ever find it  
again?"  
  
"Find what?" asked Jim sleepily.  
  
"Whatever I lost."  
  
"Sure, you'll find it," said Jim. "We'll help you look - me and the kids and the other  
Digimon..."  
  
"That's good," Kapurimon replied. "I know I need to find it, but I also want to stay with  
you."  
  
"Don't worry," Jim assured him. "We're going to stick close together from now on."  
  
"Thanks, JimHymon," said Kapurimon.  
  
Jim sighed and settled himself more comfortably on the grassy turf, thinking to himself that  
there were probably worse pet names he could be stuck with. He'd get used to it, just like he  
would have to get used to the rest of this crazy situation. He stared up at the sky, looking at the  
brilliant stars laid out in patterns unlike anything he'd ever seen in his home. They shimmered  
through the branches of trees he felt sure he'd never find in a botany book on Earth, and he  
couldn't even begin to identify the noises that issued from the forest. Where was home, anyway?  
Somewhere up in the sky, the way he'd seen the Digiworld from Earth? How would he ever find  
his way back?  
  
He was distracted from these gloomy thoughts by a small purring noise, and he glanced  
over his shoulder to see that Kapurimon had fallen asleep again, and was snoring. He smiled. At  
least he wasn't alone in this weird world; loyal little Kapurimon would be here for him to help him  
make sense of all this. He'd seen the power of the other Digimon in battle, but now he thought  
their emotional support was probably as important to their companions as their firepower.  
  
"Kapurimon," he murmured. "My Digimon."  
  
The words felt entirely comfortable to him, and he continued smiling even as he slipped  
into a deep sleep.  
  
To be continued...  
BRBRCENTERA HREF=index.htmlIMG border=0 SRC=/Graphics/home.jpg/ABRBR  
  



	2. The Way to Use a Digivice

Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to a number of large, powerful companies, who are making lots of  
money off of it. I am not particularly powerful, I'm certainly not making any money off this  
venture, and I don't own Digimon!  
  
The Way to Use A Digivice  
By: SilvorMoon  
  
Jim's first thought upon awakening was to wonder why he was lying in the dirt. Then he  
became aware that there was something moving around next to him, rustling and muttering. He  
felt something cold and wet come in contact with his ear, and he yelped, sitting up straight and  
opening his eyes. Looking around, the memory of where he was and what he was doing there  
came slowly back to him: he was in the Digital World, and his Digimon had come to wake him  
up.  
  
"Morning, JimHyumon!" Kapurimon chirped. "Rise and shine!"  
  
"Hello to you too," said Jim with a yawn. "By the way, did you know you have a really  
cold nose?"  
  
"I can't help it," said Kapurimon. "It's cold out today."  
  
Jim reached in his pocket for his glasses so he could take a better look at the scenery. He  
had only gotten a dim, firelit view of it the night before, and now he was getting a surprise as he saw  
it clearly. It was, as his Digimon had informed him, a chilly morning, and grey-blue clouds hung  
heavily over the land, dark with the promise of rain. Otherwise, the landscape was striking and  
rather beautiful, a far cry from the wasteland he'd wandered through before. Plantlife ran wild  
along the edges of the river, putting out lush grasses and other leafy plants. A few shy white  
flowers peeked out along the banks, but the real colors belonged to the non-blooming plants. A  
bushy thing with wide leaves was streaked in purple and red, and the grass he'd assumed was  
green by night was actually tinged blue. His eyes roved through a patch of vines with pink  
speckled foliage and up the trunk of what he had thought was a normal fruit tree.  
  
"I didn't know baseballs grew on trees," he said.  
  
"Where else would you grow them?" asked Gomamon. "We sure don't dig them like  
potatoes."  
  
"That's something we forgot to tell you about the Digital World," said Matt. "Some of the  
laws of nature don't necessarily apply. Oh, and don't trust any household appliances or other  
forms of machinery you might happen to run into. Things around here don't work the way they  
do back home."  
  
"Hey, Joe," said Tai, who was busy wolfing his breakfast next to a cheerfully blazing fire,  
"remember those wacky telephones we ran into on the first day here? You spent all afternoon  
trying to get a call through those things."  
  
"Yeah, I remember them. You don't have to remind me," said Joe with early-morning  
grumpiness. He stared down at his breakfast. "Drats. I don't like cold fish."  
  
Gomamon's eyes lit up. "I do! Can I have it?" He dashed over to his partner's side.   
  
"If he doesn't want it, I'll eat it," said Jim. "I'm hungry enough to eat just about anything,  
even stale fish-kebabs."  
  
"I think we can do a little better than that," said Sora. She handed him a leaf that had  
grown into the general size and shape of a gravy boat. It proved to be filled with the leftovers of  
last night's dinner, but also some berries, nuts, and what appeared to be roots of some sort.  
  
"Thanks," said Jim. "Hey, Kapurimon, you want some?"  
  
"No, thanks," Kapurimon replied. "I already hunted my breakfast while you were asleep.  
Those are the leftovers."  
  
"Gee, thanks," said Jim.   
  
"That's rule number one for dealing with Digimon," Tai informed him. "They're always  
hungry, so you've got to keep them fed. Otherwise, they won't have any strength, and they won't  
be able to digivolve."  
  
"Digivolve, huh?" Jim repeated. He'd heard the word mentioned a few times while he  
was listening to the summary of the adventures to date, but he hadn't gotten a very clear notion of  
what it meant yet. "Could someone give me a little clearer idea of what that means, please?"  
  
"Ask Izzy," Mimi advised. "He understands all the technical stuff."  
  
"It's not all that technical," said Izzy. "Come here, and I'll show you."  
  
Jim obligingly got up and went to sit next to Izzy, who was busy booting up his computer.  
Tentomon scooted over to make room for Kapurimon, who was obediently following his partner.  
  
"All Digimon come in six stages," said Izzy in his lecturing tone. "The weakest are the  
Baby or Hatchling Digimon. Digivolving is when a Digimon moves up to a higher level, from  
Hatchling to In-Training to Rookie to Champion to Ultimate to Mega. Your Kapurimon is an In-  
Training. See?" He punched a few buttons, pulling up his Digimon analyzer program.  
  
"That's him, all right," Jim remarked. "So, can Kapurimon do this digivolving thing  
too?"  
  
"He sure can. He probably will, too, when the time comes," Izzy replied. "Your Digivice  
helps your Digimon to become more powerful. If you're ever in danger, your Digimon can rise to  
the next level to protect you."  
  
"I've already digivolved once," Kapurimon piped up. "I was Choromon before I met you,  
but when you were being bothered by the Gearmon, I turned into Kapurimon."  
  
"So, what will you turn into next?" asked Jim.  
  
"No idea," Kapurimon replied.  
  
"It's a surprise," TK informed him. "None of us knew what our Digimon would be until  
they digivolved."  
  
"I know all this sounds complicated, but you'll get used to it," said Izzy. "You won't even  
have to think about it anymore, after a while."  
  
"I sure hope so," Jim replied. "This is starting to make my algebra finals look simple!"  
  
"What's an algebra?" asked Patamon.  
  
"You don't even want to know," answered Jim. He stared up at the sky. "Sure is gloomy  
today... and chilly. Is the Digital World always like this."  
  
"No, this is strange," said Sora. "It's usually warm here, and I don't think I've ever seen it  
rain."  
  
"The Dark Masters must be messing with the atmosphere," Izzy opined. "It looks like  
we're in for a storm."  
  
"Great," Joe muttered. "Thunderstorms give me sinus headaches."  
  
"Aw, come on, Joe," said Jim. "A little water won't kill you."  
  
"But it will mess up our travel plans," said Tai. He was perched on a large rock, staring  
off into the distance through his telescope. "This fog is so heavy, I can't even see the mountain  
we were looking for yesterday. We're going to be walking around half blind in this weather, even  
if it doesn't rain."  
  
"Mountain? What mountain?" Jim asked.  
  
"We saw it off in the distance yesterday," said Matt. "We thought it might make a good  
vantage point so we can get a look at the situation we're in."  
  
"That sounds reasonable... but how are you going to find it if you can't see it anymore?"  
  
Tai thought. "Well... we're a long way off. We'll just have to keep moving in the  
direction we were going yesterday. We'll still be getting closer, and we can always turn around a  
little if we have to, once we can see again."  
  
At that moment, there was an ominous rumble in the distance, and a light spatter of rain  
began to fall. Their fire sizzled as raindrops hit the hot wood.  
  
"Wouldn't it be better to look for some shelter?" asked Sora.  
  
Thunder rumbled again, closer this time, and it was answered by an unhappy murmur  
from the assembled company. Subdued, they began gathering up their things and preparing to  
move on. When they were packed, the doused the fire and began moving again, following the  
path of the river. Within moments, there was nothing left but a heap of dead coals to mark that  
they'd ever been there.  
  
******************************  
  
Despite hopes to the contrary, the rain did not improve. It grew steadily worse, from a  
light mist to a heavy, soaking downpour, each raindrop hitting the skin like a slap. The children  
shuffled along dejectedly. Those who were lucky enough to have hats pulled their headgear down  
tightly. The rest trotted along with their heads hung, as if that would keep the water from  
reaching them so quickly. More than one person shivered in the chill and damp. The Digimon  
followed their companions determinedly, though they were clearly not enjoying the deluge any  
more than their partners were. Determined, Tai continued leading the team along, his goggles  
pressed over his eyes to keep out the rain.  
  
"I've got rust in my ears!" Kapurimon complained, switching his tail unhappily. He had  
long since given up the fight to keep his fluffy fur dry, and the appendage hung limp and  
dripping.  
  
"I'm sorry, but there's not much I can do about it," Jim replied, attempting to wipe away  
some of the water with the hem of his sodden shirt. "All of us are wet."  
  
"I don't like this rain. My feathers are all stuck together," said Biyomon plaintively.  
  
"You think you don't like it? You're not the only one who can't fly right now," said  
Tentomon. "I'm not used to having to walk everywhere!"  
  
"Cats don't like water," Gatomon wailed.  
  
"All this cold water isn't good for me," Palmon added. "I'm going to get root rot!"  
  
Patamon said nothing, as he was busy attempting to burrow into TK's backpack.  
Gabumon was bravely silent, pulling his fur closer around him and trying not to shiver. Agumon  
sneezed, eradicating a small portion of the nearby plantlife in a steaming fireball. The explosion  
caught Tai's attention, and he turned around. He was met by seventeen pairs of pleading eyes.   
  
"All right," he sighed. "Sounds like we all need a break. We'll find some shelter and  
camp out until the rain passes over... Um, does anyone see any shelter?"  
  
"I'll find some!" Gomamon volunteered. Of all the members of the group, he was the one  
least bothered by the inclement weather. "You all wait right here, and I'll be back before you  
know it."  
  
"I guess we can wait here," said Matt. "After all, it's not like we can get any wetter."  
  
"This won't take long," the little seal promised, and he darted away to leap into the  
nearby stream. They got a brief glimpse of his pale form sculling along close to the surface, and  
then he disappeared beneath the agitated waters.  
  
However, he was not lost from the sight of all eyes. Beneath the water, something saw a  
shadow pass above it, and it moved cautiously closer to take a look. Yes, it was as he thought -  
the enemy Digimon had chanced to come into his water! Grinning eagerly, the water  
beast swam away to inform his master.  
  
****************  
  
The oceans were ruled by the great golden dragon, MetalSeadramon. He rested near the  
ocean floor, a coiled streak of shimmering metal amid the blue-black darkness of the water. While  
Piedmon ruled in his palace at the pinnacle of Spiral Mountain, Puppetmon presided over his  
manor house, and the late lamented MachineDramon had held sway over his iron cities,  
MetalSeadramon kept no fixed address. He owned the entire ocean, and he made sure his  
influence was felt in every part of it, sweeping it from end to end whenever it suited him. For  
now, though, he lay at the bottom of a deep crevasse, waiting.  
  
Eventually, he caught sight of a moving dark shape, and he raised his head with interest  
as he recognized it as one of his Divermon follwers. The creatures weren't much good as  
fighters, but they made reasonable information gatherers. He had dispatched a small fleet of them  
as soon as he'd received his orders from Piedmon, hoping that at least one of them would be able  
to track down his quarry. Judging by the way this one was grinning, he suspected this one had  
been successful.  
  
"My lord Metal Seadramon!" the Divermon greeted, as soon as it came in range. "I've got  
some good news for you! I found the Digidestined!"  
  
"What took you so long?" MetalSeadramon demanded. "I sent you out looking for them  
yesterday!"  
  
"Well, it's a big ocean out there," said the Divermon. "We had to do a lot of looking to  
cover all of it."  
  
"Did you really?" asked MetalSeadramon, dripping sarcasm. "And did you happen to find  
the Digidestined in the oceans?"  
  
"Well, no, actually I saw them by the river."  
  
"Of course you did! That's because they don't swim underwater, they walk on land!"  
MetalSeadramon roared. "You've been wasting your time! I ought to have you filleted and  
cooked in butter!"  
  
The Divermon cringed. "Well, I did find them..."  
  
"Well, where were they?"  
  
"I told you - by the river."  
  
MetalSeadramon made a swift movement, cracking his long tail like a whip. The double  
steel tips hit the Divermon sharply and sent him spinning head over flippers, until his trajectory  
was finally stopped by a large rock. He rested there as if he had been glued to it, upside down and  
somewhat dazed.   
  
"What'd I do?" he asked.  
  
"You were hatched. Next time I ask you a question, try using your brain, if you have  
one," MetalSeadramon replied. "Now, here's one more chance: which river?"  
  
"Oh, um... the one that begins at Mystery Falls," the Divermon answered. "They're trying  
to get out of the rain, I think. They'll head for the catacombs."  
  
"Perfect!" Seadramon crowed. "I know those caves like the back of my flipper. I'll send  
some Crabmon along to separate them, and once they're hopelessly lost, I can hunt them down  
one by one."  
  
"Aren't you going to fight them yourself?" the Divermon inquired.  
  
"What? And get rebooted like MachineDramon did? You must think I'm as stupid as you  
are," MetalSeadramon replied. "No. I'm being careful. If I mess this up, Piedmon will never let  
me hear the end of it. Now, you get out of here. Round up the Crabmon, if you can find them  
without getting lost."  
  
"Right away!" the Divermon replied. It saluted, still upside down, and then peeled itself  
off the rock face to go in search of its master's soldiers.  
  
As for MetalSeadramon, he uncoiled himself and swam away, a long golden comet racing  
towards the Mystery Falls.  
  
****************  
  
"I found it!"  
  
The team of wet and dejected Digidestined were called to alertness again by an exuberant  
cry. They looked up from where they rested to see a polkadotted water mammal racing toward  
them as fast as his flippers could move. He was grinning hugely, clearly pleased with himself.  
  
"What did you find?" Joe asked Gomamon.  
  
"A cave!" Gomamon replied. "A great big one! I don't know how far it goes back, but it  
looks like it has more than enough room for all of us."  
  
"Great!" said Tai. "I'm about ready to get out of this rain."  
  
They hurriedly followed after their guide, their pace swift now that they had a set  
destination in mind and the incentive of possibly getting dry sometime soon. They scampered  
along the riverbank, slogging through half-seen puddles where the river had overflowed and  
tripping on the smooth stones that threatened to turn their ankles. Soon they became aware of a  
distant rumbling sound that separated itself from the softer rush of rain. At last, they rounded a  
bend in the river and found themselves staring up at a thirty-foot high wall of silver-white water.  
  
"This is where we're supposed to get dry?" asked Mimi dubiously. "I don't get it."  
  
"The cave is behind the waterfall," Gomamon replied. "You have to go through the water  
to get to it."  
  
"Great. More water. Just what we needed," said Matt.  
  
"You can dry off on the other side," said Sora. "Come on, Biyomon."  
  
The two of them ducked through the spill of water with a splash. Gomamon bounced in  
after them.  
  
"Hey, wait for me!" Joe shouted. Getting no response, he jumped through after his  
companion.  
  
"Well, if Joe can do it..." Matt said, and he and Gabumon followed suit. Pair by pair, the  
other Digidestined followed along behind them.  
  
Inside the cave, it was dark and damp, but not nearly as much of either as they had feared.  
At least the dampness confined itself to a light mist that sprayed anyone who stood too close to  
the mouth of the cave, and not a steady downpour like there was outside. They were interested  
to see that the river didn't begin at the base of the waterfall, but seemed to be augmented by an  
underground stream that flowed out of the cave. They even managed to find some driftwood,  
possibly cast there during a flood or left by some nesting animal, and the combined efforts of  
Agumon and Gabumon, they managed to get a cheerful blaze going. Everyone gathered close to  
the fire, kicking off damp socks and shoes and preening their wet hair, fur, or feathers in an effort  
to hurry the drying process along.  
  
"This is a lot better than being outside," Tai admitted. "Good work, Gomamon."  
  
"Aw, it was nothing," the little seal answered modestly.  
  
Joe was paying no attention to what his friends were doing. He stared off into the blackest  
parts of the cavern, still and tense.  
  
"Gomamon, how far back did you explore this place?" he asked.  
  
"Not far," Gomamon admitted. "How far back was I supposed to?"  
  
"I don't know. I just don't like not knowing where this cave ends," said Joe. "And it's too  
dark down there. If anything started trying to creep up on us, we wouldn't see it until it was  
already on top of us."  
  
"You mean you wouldn't see it," Gatomon corrected. "Us cats can see in the dark  
a lot better than humans, you know."  
  
"But still not in complete darkness," said Jim. "Joe's right - it's just not safe to spend too  
much time in a place like this unless we're sure we know what's down there. Sometimes caverns  
like this can branch off for miles! Anything could be hiding down there."  
  
"He's got a valid point," Izzy replied. "Maybe we ought to explore this place a little more  
thoroughly before we decide to stay for an extended period of time."  
  
"I'm cool with that," answered Tai, who was warming his toes by the fire. "There's  
nothing better to do around here, anyway."  
  
"All right, then," Matt replied, scooping up a burning branch from the fire. "It won't hurt  
to look around a bit... and maybe by the time we're done, it will have stopped raining."  
  
A few other members of the team also collected the longer branches from the fire, plus a  
few spares in case their torches burned down. Huddling close together, they began their  
exploration.  
  
The first few meters of the cave were disappointingly dull, being nothing more than a  
crack in the side of a large hill, showing them lots of smooth grey stone and dark water and not  
much else. However, it gradually began sloping more deeply into the earth, and the temperature  
became colder. It wasn't long before they couldn't even see the end of the tunnel anymore. The  
sound of the waterfall went from a thundering rush to a low growl, then to a vibration beneath  
their feet, and then died out altogether, and still the cavern went on. At last, they came to a place  
where the narrow crack they'd been following widened into a huge open space. The walls, what  
could be seen of them, were pale shimmering white instead of the grey stone they'd seen before,  
and icy-looking stalactites dangled above their heads. Stretching out as far as they could see  
before them was an expanse of water, smooth as a mirror except where the water flowed into it  
from the waterfall far away. The meager light from their torches wasn't enough to let them see  
the far end of the room, but there did seem to be something like a pebbly beach surrounding it.  
  
"Ooh, pretty!" exclaimed Mimi, admiring the crystal water and shimmering stone  
formations.  
  
"We've found an underwater lake," said Izzy. "I'd theorize a geological upheaval caused  
a resettling of the mountain we just passed through and opened a chasm. These caves have  
probably been here long before it was."  
  
"Interesting," said Jim. "I'll keep it in mind."  
  
The Digimon weren't as interested in admiring the scenery. They were milling around the  
edge of the lake, sniffing and pawing at the water and muttering amongst themselves.  
  
"I don't like this lake," Gomamon opined. "Something about it smells wrong."  
  
"I don't see why it should have anything wrong with it," said Matt. "It's the same water  
that was outside, isn't it?"  
  
"I don't know if it's the water, exactly," Gabumon answered his partner, "but something's  
definitely not right about it."  
  
"There are other Digimon around here somewhere," said Kapurimon. "One of them  
smells familiar."  
  
"Well, I guess we've found the end of the tunnel," said Tai, "and we haven't found  
anything more dangerous than a big puddle. I say we go back to where we came from and-"  
  
At that moment, there was a loud bubbling noise from somewhere in the darkness of the  
lake. Then, with a huge splash, the gleaming head of MetalSeadramon rose up and roared. Kids  
and Digimon alike scrambled away from the water's edge. Matt, startled, dropped the torch he'd  
been carrying, and it went out with a hiss into the lake.  
  
"So, we meet again, Digidestined!" MetalSeadramon chuckled. "You might have gotten  
away from me once, but now you're in my element, and you won't get away so easily!"  
  
"We'll see about that!" Tai replied. "You don't have your buddies to back you up this  
time, and we have a new member to help us!"  
  
"I heard about that," MetalSeadramon chuckled. He glared at Kapurimon, grinning  
wickedly. "Yeah, Piedmon knows all about you, you little runt. Everything. Sooner or later, he'll  
be coming to get you, too, and you're not going to get away, either."  
  
"Go sit on a sea urchin!" Kapurimon shouted back. He punctuated that remark by puffing  
a stream of pink bubbles at the dragon, but they hit the sharp edges of MetalSeadramon's helmet  
and popped harmlessly.  
  
"That's real cute," MetalSeadramon sneered. "An In-Training Digimon wants to fight a  
Mega! Don't make me laugh. You wouldn't have a chance against me unless you were a Mega  
Digimon. Wouldn't you like to be a Mega?"  
  
"I don't care what you are or what I am! I'll fight you if you mess with my JimHyumon!"  
Kapurimon shouted back.  
  
"Take it easy, Kapurimon," said Jim. "You're not strong enough. Let the other Digimon  
handle this."  
  
"Aw, forget it," MetalSeadramon said. "I didn't come here to fight you twerps anyway."  
  
"You didn't?" asked TK hopefully. "You mean you're gonna give up?"  
  
"No," the golden dragon replied. "I'm going to let my Crabmon do the work for me! Go  
get them, Crabmon!"  
  
With a series of splashes, half a dozen large crabs, mottled blue and grey, leaped out of  
the water and set about surrounding the Digidestined, and the children scattered. A few tried to  
bolt for the exit, but the Crabmon leaped to block the way, forcing them to run along the edges of  
the lake. Despite the fact that they tried to stay together, the snapping claws of the crab monsters  
forced them apart and away from each other.   
  
"Where's TK?" asked Matt, looking around frantically. "We've lost TK!"  
  
"And Kari!" Tai added.  
  
"I just knew it was dangerous down here!" Joe wailed, dodging the grasp of a persuing  
Crabmon.  
  
"Don't worry, Joe! I'll save us!" Gomamon cried. He leaped for the water, shouting,  
"Gomamon, digivolve to... Ikkakumon!"  
  
He hit the surface of the lake with a splash, and a sudden burst of blue light made the  
flying droplets sparkle like stars. Up out of the water rose the head of the shaggy white walrus  
beast, Ikkakumon.  
  
"Climb aboard! I'll get you to safety!" he urged.  
  
Joe didn't waste any time - he made a flying jump and managed to grab hold of his  
partner's long fur and scramble up his side. Tai and Matt followed with their Digimon in tow.  
Before anyone else had the chance to make an attempt, a burst of searing blue light tore the air  
between Ikkakumon and the last of the Digidestined.  
  
"Don't think that's going to work, Digidestined!" MetalSeadramon warned. "I'm wise to  
your tricks. You might be tough when you're all together, but you can't beat me when you're  
separated, so I plan to make sure you all stay separated!"  
  
"Easier said than done!" Ikkakumon boasted. "Harpoon Torpedo!"  
  
He fired a round of explosives at the metal dragon, who simply plunged under water and  
vanished. The torpedoes hit the ceiling, causing a burst of smoke and flames, as well as the fall of  
several stalactites. Some of them fell harmlessly into the water, but a few more showered down  
on the beach, forcing the remaining Digidestined to dodge out of their way.  
  
"Stop it! You're going to hurt someone!" Matt shouted.  
  
"But Matt, we're sort of in trouble right now," protested Ikkakumon worriedly, sizing  
up the number of crabs that were still staring at him. "How are we supposed to get out of this if I  
can't fight?"  
  
"We'll just have to make a swim for it," said Tai.  
  
"Rats. I was afraid you'd say that. I hate running away!" Ikkakumon muttered, but he  
began paddling anyway. "Catch me if you can, crabmeat!"  
  
Jim, Sora, and Izzy remained stranded on the beach, watching the light of Tai's torch drift  
off into the darkness. They didn't have long to watch, though, because they still had some  
crustaceans left to deal with. Two of the giant crabs still remained, watching them with angry  
eyes and clicking their claws menacingly.  
  
"Um... what do Digidestined normally do in circumstances like this?" Jim asked.  
  
"Normally," said Izzy, "we run."  
  
And they did, scrambling into the darkness with all the speed they could muster.  
MetalSeadramon watched them for a while, waiting for his quarry to get themselves sufficiently  
lost. After all, the game was no fun without a chase. When he sure they were well away from  
him, he went on the hunt.  
  
****************  
  
The air was still and cool, undisturbed since almost the beginning of time. Now, however,  
things were beginning to change. The lifeless air was suddenly being moved again, warmed by  
the breathing of the creatures that were working their way through it and the fire that flickered in  
the darkness.  
  
Mimi was doing her best not to be frightened, and was actually having a modicum of  
success. After all, she still had her torch, holding the shadows at bay, and Palmon was still here  
to protect her. So were Gatomon and Patamon, who could be relied upon to deal with just about  
anything. Also, she had to keep some kind of grip on her emotions, because after all, she was the  
only one left to look after the youngest of the Digidestined.  
  
"Where did everybody go?" TK wondered, clutching Patamon close to him.  
  
"I really don't know," said Mimi. "We must have lost them when those crab-things  
started attacking us. It's a good thing we managed to get away from them."  
  
One thing MetalSeadramon hadn't taken into account was that his minions didn't know  
their way around the underground caverns as well as he did. With the Digimon to provide a  
distraction (it was hard to follow your prey if you had a cat clawing at your eyes or your legs  
were wrapped in vines), the Digidestined had managed to slip down a crevasse and hide, and the  
Crabmon had wandered down the wrong tunnel in search of them. They likely wouldn't see the  
light of day for quite some time. However, that didn't leave the Digidestined themselves any less  
lost.  
  
"Do you think they'll find us soon?" Kari inquired. Her voice echoed oddly through the  
dark tunnel. It sounded distant and haunted.  
  
"Who?" asked Gatomon. "The Crabmon or our friends?"  
  
"Either," Kari replied. "I don't like wandering around all alone like this."  
  
"You're not alone," Palmon soothed her. "You've got Mimi and the rest of us to look  
after you. Everything will be just fine."  
  
"I know," Kari sighed, "but I still don't like it."  
  
"Matt always told me that if I ever got lost, I should sit still and wait for someone to come  
find me," TK offered.  
  
"That's a good idea," said Mimi. "Let's stop and take a breather, huh?"  
  
No one had any objections to the idea, so they found smooth rocks to sit on and settled  
down for some relaxation. At least, most of them did. Mimi immediately took a seat, closed her  
eyes, and to all appearances fell asleep, while Palmon sat by and kept watch over her. TK rested  
nearby with Patamon in his lap, idly tossing pebbles into a nearby puddle and watching the  
splashes. Gatomon, bothered by the chill and dampness, kept an eye on the torch. Kari, however,  
seemed restless. After a few moments of sitting and fidgeting, she got up and began to prowl  
around.  
  
"Where are you going?" asked Gatomon.  
  
"Just looking," Kari assured her. "I'm not going to go far."  
  
Keeping within range of the torchlight (it covered a surprising area, thanks to the  
reflectivity of the walls), Kari climbed around the stones and stalagmites, hopping over puddles  
and small gaps. There didn't seem to be much to see other than stones. Still, it was more  
interesting than just sitting still. It had been no accident that she'd been given a cat as her  
companion, and she had as much curiosity as any other small child. Besides, she was getting an  
eerie feeling that there was something important hiding nearby, if she could only figure out what  
it was...  
  
"Hey, Mimi!" she called suddenly. "Come look at this! I've found a fuzzball... and I think  
it's sick!"  
  
There was a scuffling sound of people getting to their feet, and soon Mimi and TK  
appeared, flanked by the Digimon. They looked to find Kari kneeling on the stone floor with a  
small body cradled in her arms. It was covered mostly in pale pink fur and had a pair of grey-  
white wings sprouting from the top of its head like strange ears. It would have been cute, had it  
not been coated with mud and blood. Its eyes were closed.  
  
"That's Piximon!" Mimi exclaimed. "Oh, no, what's happened to him?"  
  
"Is he still alive?" asked TK, eyes wide.  
  
"He's still warm," said Kari softly, "and he's still breathing, but... I don't know. It's like I  
can feel him hurting. There's something really wrong with him. Who is he? Is he a good  
Digimon?"  
  
"He was our friend," said Palmon. "He trained us, and helped us out when we were  
attacked by a Kuwagamon in the desert."  
  
"Poor little thing," Kari said. "He looks so little and weak. What can we do, Mimi? We  
have to help him!"  
  
"I don't know," Mimi admitted. "Joe could tell us what to do, maybe, but I don't know  
anything about how to take care of someone who's hurt."  
  
"You mean he's going to die?" asked Kari. She looked up at Mimi, her eyes dark and full  
of pain.  
  
Mimi sighed. "I don't know, Kari. I don't know what we can do to help."  
  
"There has to be something," said Kari stubbornly. "I'm not going to just sit here and let a  
good Digimon die!"  
  
"Maybe if we cleaned him up a little?" Gatomon offered. "The water down here is  
probably clean."  
  
"I guess that wouldn't hurt," Kari agreed.   
  
Carefully, so as not to injure the patient any more than he already was, Kari carried  
Piximon over to the puddle where TK had been playing earlier. She stared at the water critically.  
She'd expected it to be muddy, since most puddles in her experience were, but the water was  
crystal clear and pleasantly cool. She borrowed a pink handkerchief from Mimi and went about  
cleaning up the little Digimon as best she could. Her cleaning revealed a few large gashes - at  
least, large considering the size of the being they were on - and several bruises that showed  
through the sparse fur. Through the whole operation, he never once moved, though he did moan  
softly a few times. When she was done, she dried him off as best she could and wrapped him up  
in TK's vest.  
  
"That's about all we can do," said Mimi. "Now we'll just have to wait and see what  
happens."  
  
"I feel so sorry for him," Kari whispered. "He's hurting so badly..."  
  
"Maybe it's not as bad as it looks?" Patamon offered.  
  
Kari shook her head distractedly. That distant look in her eyes seemed to have intensified,  
making her look years older. "No. He's hurting. I can feel it inside. He's getting further away  
from us. I have to pull him back, somehow."  
  
"Kari, what are you talking about?" asked Gatomon.  
  
Kari said nothing. Slowly, she reached for her Crest and held it up, letting it cast a soft  
pink glow over the unconscious Digimon and herself, surrounding them both with a mist of light.  
The other Digidestined stared in awe. It had to be just a trick of the light, but it looked like Kari  
herself was glowing, too, with a cool white radiance of her own. Though the air was still, Kari's  
hair was stirring slightly, as if in a gentle breeze. Then she spoke, and the others knew something  
strange was going on, because the voice was one they had never heard coming out of their friend.  
It was the voice of a grown woman, confident and regal.  
  
"Wake up," she said, gently stroking Piximon's fur. "The battle isn't over yet, my friend.  
We still need you here. Even I can't afford to rest any longer. We both have our battles to fight.  
Come back."  
  
As she spoke, pale pink glints of light seemed to trickle from her fingertips, wreathing  
around the little Digimon and finally blotting him out altogether. Soon the lights became  
painfully bright, but although Mimi and TK were forced to avert their eyes, Kari continued  
staring down at her small charge unflinchingly. Finally the lights died away, leaving Piximon  
without any evidence that he'd ever been hurt. The little Digimon blinked bright black eyes,  
staring up at his savior's face.  
  
"Kari?" he asked weakly. "Is that you?"  
  
Kari blinked and shook herself. Her eyes had returned to their normal pale brown.  
  
"Hmm?" she said dazedly. "How did you know my name?"  
  
"Then is is - no, it isn't you, is it?" Piximon asked. "But you look so much like  
her... Who are you?"  
  
"My name is Hikari Kamiya," said Kari. "Are you feeling better."  
  
"Yup yup! Just fine!" Piximon assured it. "Very strange, it is. You look just like the  
queen did, and only she could have called me back, but you're not her! What did you say your  
name was again?"  
  
"We call her Kari," Mimi answered, trying to head the conversation in a direction she  
understood. She was beginning to wonder if Piximon might still be delirious, because she hadn't  
understood a thing he'd said so far. "She's Tai's little sister, the Eighth Digidestined."  
  
"Ahhhh," said Piximon, as if a great truth had been revealed. "It begins to make sense!  
So, you are the carrier of the Crest of Light, then?"  
  
"I have it right here," Kari replied, holding it up for him to see.  
  
"Even better," said Piximon cheerfully. "Want to thank you, I do, for saving my life. If  
you hadn't come to pull me back, I would have been a goner for sure!"  
  
"What happened to you, anyway?" asked TK. "Why aren't you in your home in the  
desert?"  
  
"Because it's not there anymore," Piximon replied.  
  
"You mean the Dark Masters destroyed it?" asked Mimi.  
  
"Worse than that," answered the pixy Digimon. "Do you mean to tell me that no one has  
told you what the Dark Masters have done to this world?"  
  
"No, not really," Mimi answered. "We've sorta been too busy running from them to ask  
questions."  
  
"Oh, well," Piximon sighed. "Listen up, then! This is important! The Dark Masters aren't  
just holding this world their prisoner by force, as past monsters have. They've found a way to  
completely reorder the world into what they want it to be! They've split the Digital World into  
four quarters. MetalSeadramon rules the oceans and beaches. Puppetmon rules the forest.  
MachineDramon rules the cities. Piedmon... he rules a desolate grey wasteland, crowned by his  
palace at the top of Spiral mountain, where all four quarters come together. He's calling himself  
the supreme ruler of the world, and claims the power to manipulate the fabric of the Digital  
World any way he wants!"  
  
"Yuck," said Kari succinctly. "But you're wrong about one thing. MachineDramon can't  
be ruling over anything, because he's not here anymore."  
  
"That's right," Gatomon agreed. "WarGreymon and I blew him up."  
  
"Really?" asked Piximon. "Well! Good news, that is. But much work to be done, still! It  
will take a lot more work than just defeating one Dark Master to set things right. They've mixed  
everything up! Everything they didn't want to keep - like my home - has been deleted, and  
everything else has been reprogrammed so you wouldn't even recognize it anymore! This, for  
example," he added, waving a hand, "used to be the main road to the City of Light."  
  
"City of Light?" Kari repeated, eyes bright with interest.  
  
"Yup yup!" Piximon agreed. "It was once home to a beautiful queen, but she died many  
years ago. The city still stands, though, but now they call it the City of Shadows. When  
MetalSeadramon began taking over, many of the queen's former subjects fled to the city for  
safety."  
  
"Is that why you're down here?" asked Mimi. "Trying to get away from the Dark  
Masters?"  
  
"Not exactly," Piximon replied. "The Digimon were safe down here for a little while -  
MetalSeadramon wasn't interested in them because they were too weak to fight, either for or  
against him. However, when MachineDramon heard that there were hundreds of shadow-  
dwelling Digimon living down here, he decided he wanted to take them for himself and make  
slaves out of them! I came here trying to protect them. I did manage to finally drive  
MachineDramon off, but it took all my strength to do it. I can't say how long I've been lying  
down here in the dark."  
  
"You poor thing!" Kari exclaimed. "And the poor Digimon, too. Are they still down  
here? Can we see them?"  
  
"You certainly can!" answered Piximon. "And you shall. I have a suspicion that the  
Digimon would like to meet you, too."  
  
****************  
  
Meanwhile, another group of six wandered through the maze of tunnels: A redheaded  
girl, a pink bird, a boy with a computer, an oversized insect, a serious-faced boy in glasses, and a  
small and uneasy looking armored raccoon.  
  
"I don't like it down here," Kapurimon complained. "I don't like it down here one bit. It's  
creepy."  
  
"Take it easy," Sora said. "None of us like it much down here in the dark."  
  
"It's not just that," said Kapurimon. "I've just got this feeling... like I've been down here  
before."  
  
"You think you might be getting your memory back?" asked Jim. He was a little worried  
about his companion's memory lapse. Something seemed strange to him that his otherwise clever  
partner couldn't seem to remember anything that had happened to him more than a few days ago,  
and he was even more concerned over the mysterious "something important" that had Kapurimon  
so worried. Even now, the little animal was nosing under rocks and peering in puddles in a vain  
attempt to find the missing article.  
  
"Maybe," said Kapurimon dubiously, "but something tells me I don't want to remember  
what happened in here. It feels bad to me."  
  
"Interesting," said Izzy vaguely. He was only half paying attention to what they were  
saying. It required concentration to walk and type at the same time, and the sound of clicking  
keys told his friends more clearly than words would have how useless it would be to try to  
engage him in conversation.  
  
"What are you working on now, Izzy?" asked Tentomon, hovering around Izzy's shoulder  
so he could get a look at the screen.  
  
"Nothing much," came the offhand reply. "Just trying to get our bearings so we don't  
wander around in this maze for the rest of the year. Some of these underground tunnels can go on  
for miles and miles, and if we don't figure out an escape route, there's no telling how long we'll  
be stuck down here."  
  
"I'd really prefer not to spend the rest of my life under a rock, thanks," said Jim, ducking  
around a low-hanging stalactite.  
  
"Me, too," Kapurimon agreed. "It's too damp down here, and it doesn't smell right."  
  
"You're right," agreed Biyomon, turning her beak in the air to sniff. "It smells like...  
hide!" She abruptly flung herself behind a boulder, dragging Sora along with her. Jim and  
Kapurimon followed their example, leaving Izzy standing confused in the middle of the tunnel.  
  
"Where did everyone go?" he asked.  
  
"They hid," said Tentomon testily, "and I think we should, too, before something-"  
  
"Wait a minute! Did you hear that?" asked Izzy.  
  
Tentomon pricked up his antennae, and he did hear. It sounded like the pounding  
of a far-off ocean, the roar of a distant waterfall, all blended with the clatter of an oncoming  
express train. It could only mean one thing.  
  
"MetalSeadramon!" they said in unison, and made a wild dive for the nearest hiding  
place.  
  
They were almost too late. In the next second, the sea serpent himself came tearing  
around a bend in the tunnel, his armored sides gouging scraps of rock from the walls, the sharp  
horn on his head dislodging stalactites in a stony shower. They clattered loudly off his golden  
scales, filling the cavern with echoing noise. The Digidestined clamped their hands over their  
ears to try to block out the painful clamor. However, nothing could drown out the sound of  
MetalSeadramon's roaring.   
  
"I know you're down here, Digidestined!" he shouted. "There's no escaping me now!  
This tunnel leads to a dead end! Come out and surrender now, or I'll bury you in limestone!"  
  
His answer came in the form of a stream of green fire that splashed against his helmet,  
narrowly missing his unprotected eye. His head whipped around to find Biyomon hovering  
nearby and glaring at him as dangerously as a little pink bird could.  
  
"You want to mess with Sora, you're going to have to come through me!" she asserted.  
  
"And I'm supposed to be frightened by this?" MetalSeadramon jeered.  
  
"You would if you knew what was good for you," she replied. "A Digimon's purpose in  
life is to protect, not to destroy! No matter what you do, us true Digimon will always come out  
on top!"  
  
"Don't make me laugh!" the dragon replied. "The power of a tiny little shrimp like you  
could never overcome a Digimon like me!"  
  
"Maybe so," Biyomon agreed, "but our brains still can, because we're a whole lot smarter  
than you. While you've been sitting here yelling at me, the others have run off."  
  
"What?" MetalSeadramon cried. He glared all around, but the Digidestined were indeed  
gone, leaving only the distant echoes of scrambling feet to tell him where they'd gone. He spat a  
beam of blue fire at Biyomon in frustration, but she had expected it and dodged it easily. She  
flew away laughing at him. He stood there stupidly for a moment, trying to figure out how he was  
supposed to follow the Digidestined. The tunnel was narrow, and although there was enough  
room for some children and small animals to slip by, there wasn't nearly enough space for him to  
turn around. Snarling, he continued down the tunnel in search of a place to reverse himself.  
  
"So, where are we running, anyway?" Jim shouted to his companions as they barreled  
down the hall.  
  
"Away!" said Sora.  
  
"There was an opening in the cave further back," said Izzy. "We'll have some room to  
maneuver in there! If we have to stand and fight, that would be the place!"  
  
"Are you sure we just can't find a place to hide?" asked Tentomon.  
  
"Negative," his partner asked, shaking his head. "MetalSeadramon will find us down here  
wherever we go. It's time to show him what we're really made of."  
  
"I'm ready to fight!" Kapurimon asserted. "I'll take him down for you, Jim!"  
  
"No, you won't!" Jim replied. "He's way too powerful for you! Look at you - you don't  
even have legs!"  
  
"Neither does he," said Kapurimon.  
  
"We'll argue about this later," said Izzy. "Look, here's the cave!"  
  
They skittered to a halt in the middle of a wide open space. Aside from the presence of  
numerous stalagmites and other odd lumps of rock, the floor was fairly level. The ceiling was so  
high that their torches touched nothing more than distant sparkles, dim suggestions of the stone  
needles above them. The walls were spaced far enough apart that the room could have easily held  
ten MetalSedramons.   
  
"I think this is as good as we're going to get down here," said Izzy. "Get your Digivices  
ready, gang!"  
  
They did so, Izzy and Sora with the confidence of veterans and Jim with a bit more  
trepidation. After all, he had never actually seen the little object work, not on his own Digimon,  
anyway. He wasn't sure he knew how to use it. What if he couldn't figure it out in time to do  
anyone any good? What if his impetuous companion attacked MetalSeadramon and got himself  
hurt because Jim couldn't make the device work?   
  
"Don't worry, Jim," said Sora, offering him a faint smile of encouragement. "We'll be  
okay, really. Our Digimon have always come through for us."  
  
"They'd better," Jim replied, "because I think company is coming."  
  
Sure enough, the rumble that meant MetalSeadramon's approach was drawing rapidly  
nearer. The kids and their Digimon dove for cover as the golden dragon came crashing into the  
room, widening part of the entrance tunnel in his haste to reach them. He was angry, the  
light in his eyes bordering on feral madness as he whipped about in search of his prey.  
  
"Trick me, will you?" he demanded. "I'll turn all of you into fish bait for that!"  
  
"I don't think so!" answered a voice. "Horn Buster!"  
  
MetalSeadramon just barely reacted in time to dodge an enormous red beetle.  
MegaKabuterimon's attack gouged up a large chunk of the floor, spraying gravel. The dragon  
snapped at MegaKabuterimon's leg and latched on, spinning him in a half circle before hurling  
him at the wall. Stalactites rained down on everyone, clattering harmlessly off MetalSeadramon's  
armor but forcing the children to dodge frantically. Sora yelped as a sharp bit of flying stone tore  
at her leg.  
  
"Sora!" cried the voice of Garudamon. "You're going to pay for that, MetalSeadramon!  
Wing Blade!"  
  
MetalSeadramon flinched away from the flames, but they did very little to his  
impenetrable exterior. He whipped his tail at Garudamon, slicing through any nearby stalagmites  
as if they were nothing more than grass. The bird creature managed to dodge the attack itself, but  
there was no hiding from the flying stones. There was more than one cry of pain.  
  
"Are you sure this is the best battleground we could find?" asked Jim. He wasn't  
seriously hurt yet, but there were several bruises on his arms from where he'd been trying to  
shield his face.  
  
"Nowhere else in this maze is going to be any better," said Izzy, dabbing tentatively at a  
cut on his cheek. "At least here we have a little room to dodge."  
  
"JimHyumon! Are you hurt?" asked Kapurimon anxiously.  
  
"I'm fine, really," Jim assured him. "Just a little scuffed up, that's all."  
  
"I can't let him hurt you, Jim," Kapurimon said. "You're the first friend I've ever had. I  
have to protect you! Let me fight him!"  
  
"No," said Jim firmly. "I already told you, if you try it, you'll just get yourself hurt! Let  
Izzy and Sora's Digimon handle it!"  
  
"But, Jim!" Kapurimon complained.  
  
He didn't get to finish his complaint. The voice of the little Digimon had caught  
MetalSeadramon's attention, and now the sea dragon had turned his flashing gaze on Jim and  
Kapurimon.  
  
"So, you think you can fight me, do you?" MetalSeadramon asked. "Why don't you try it?  
I never liked you much, anyway. No one will care if I squash you now - especially if I let  
Piedmon know how you're trying to help that pathetic human!"  
  
"Don't call Jim names!" Kapurimon shouted back. "He's my friend, and I'll punish you if  
you try to hurt him!"  
  
"Try it," the dragon sneered. "Go ahead and try it."  
  
Kapurimon answered by making a flying tackle at MetalSeadramon. He hit the dragon's  
armored body with a resounding clang and bounced off, colliding with a large rock. Jim ran to  
his side.  
  
"I told you not to do that!" he scolded. "Are you hurt? Say something!"  
  
"Don't worry, I'll get him next time," Kapurimon said dazedly. He shook himself and  
leaped back at MetalSeadramon again, but Jim tackled him and held him down.  
  
"Stop it! You're going to get yourself killed, and that won't do either of us any good!"  
shouted Jim.  
  
"No, but it will do me plenty of good," MetalSeadramon replied. "C'mere, you little  
runt." He whipped his tail at Kapurimon, trying to swat him like a fly, but Kapurimon leaped out  
of the way and retaliated with a stream of pink bubbles, which MetalSeadramon ignored.  
  
"That's one determined little Digimon," Sora commented.  
  
"He's crazy!" said Izzy. "There's just no way an In-Training Digimon is going to take out  
a Mega!"  
  
Jim seemed to be of the same mind. He caught Kapurimon as he fell to the ground again  
and carried him behind the nearest stand of rocks, ignoring the Digimon's struggles.  
  
"Let me go! Let me go!" cried Kapurimon.  
  
"No! I don't want to see you get hurt!" Jim replied.  
  
"I was doing just fine until you tried to stop me," Kapurimon replied. "I'm stronger than  
you think, JimHyumon!" He blinked, feeling a memory flitting around in his fogged brain. "I'm  
supposed to be stronger than this. What's happened to me?"  
  
"You'll never get a chance to find out!" roared MetalSeadramon. "River of  
Power!"  
  
The blue light hit the stones and reduced them to rubble. Jim went flying in one direction,  
Kapurimon in the other, and they both landed hard in the crunching gravel. Kapurimon recovered  
better than his partner, owing to his armor, and rushed to his partner's side, nuzzling him and  
trying to make him move. Jim twitched and moaned, struggling to push himself up.  
  
"Jim, are you okay?" Kapurimon cried.  
  
"I - I think so," Jim gasped. His hands slipped on the loose stones, and he fell again.  
  
"Don't worry, JimHyumon! I'll protect you," answered the little Digimon.  
  
*This is awful,* thought Jim through his pain. *Kapurimon can't fight! We're  
both hurt... and I can't help him. He's going to be eaten alive, all because I don't know how to  
make him Digivolve!*  
  
Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Sora and Izzy standing  
over him.  
  
"Come on," said Sora. "Leave this fight to the Digimon. We'll get you to safety."  
  
With their help, Jim managed to hobble away to shelter, and they collapsed behind a  
fairly protected ring of stones. Over the tips of the stalagmites, they could still see two Ultimate  
Digimon and a lone In-Training dodging and attacking the water dragon.  
  
"He shouldn't be out there," Jim moaned.  
  
"Yes, he should," said Izzy firmly. "Jim, you've got to stop trying to protect Kapurimon!  
It's his job to protect you!"  
  
"But he's so small, and MetalSeadramon-"  
  
"That's not the point!" Surprisingly, it was Sora who cut him off. "He needs your strength  
if he's going to digivolve, and you'll never be able to help him if you spend all your time being  
afraid for him! You have to have a little faith in him. If you're afraid to let him fight, he's going  
to lose."  
  
"Exactly," said Izzy. "We made the same mistake when our Digimon were small - not  
wanting to let them fight with a Kuwagamon. But they fought anyway, because they knew they  
had to protect us, and you know what? As soon as we set them free and let them do what they  
had to do, they digivolved, and they won the battle!"  
  
"Really?" asked Jim. "So the way to use a Digivice..."  
  
"...is to believe that your Digimon can win," Sora finished. "Who would have thought my  
Biyomon could become Garudamon? I did the same thing with her, not wanting her to fight  
because I was afraid she'd get hurt, but the first time she reached her most powerful stage was  
when I let her fight a battle like this, when I didn't think she'd win."  
  
"Wow," said Jim. "Then I've been doing it all wrong, haven't I?"  
  
"Well, you have to make allowances for a beginner..." said Izzy.  
  
Suddenly, there was a clang of metal on metal, and something silvery went soaring  
through the air. Kapurimon hit the wall and bounced, landing a few feet away from the  
Digidestined's hiding place. Jim scrambled to reach his companion's side, and Kapurimon  
blinked weakly at him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Jim," he said. "You were right. He is too strong for me."  
  
"No, I was wrong," Jim replied, hugging the little animal. "You were only weak because I  
was holding you back. But I believe in you, Kapurimon! You're a brave little Digimon, and if  
anyone in the world can fight off that ugly dragon, it's you!"  
  
"Really?" asked Kapurimon.  
  
"Absolutely," Jim replied.  
  
His attention was caught by a beeping sound, and he turned his attention to his Digivice,  
which had finally broken its long silence. He had just enough time to notice that it was glowing  
before his attention was caught by a brighter light, and in the middle of the light, something  
spun... and spoke.  
  
"Kapurimon, digivolve to... Kokuwamon!"  
  
Jim stared, finding himself confronted by a new Digimon. His armored raccoon had  
vanished, and in it's place stood something that looked more like a mechanical beetle. It was  
made entirely of silvery metal, with only two bright yellow eyes that glowed from within to add  
color. It had six legs, using two to walk on. The others were tipped with sharp pincers, and a  
larger pair sprouted from his head, like the jaws of a Hercules beetle. Sparks snapped between  
the pincers.  
  
"What in the world?" asked Jim.  
  
"Congratulations!" said Izzy. "Your Digimon has digivolved! I knew you had it in you!"  
  
"So, what is he now?"   
  
Izzy clicked away at his computer, bringing up the data screen. "Kokuwamon, the Rookie  
form of Kapurimon. He's a metal-type Digimon. He uses his Spark Scissor attack to electrocute  
his enemies!"  
  
"Don't worry, though," said Kokuwamon. His voice was deeper now, but still childlike.  
"I'm still the same Kapurimon on the inside... but now maybe I'll have better luck against that  
overgrown lizard who calls himself a Dark Master!"  
  
MetalSeadramon glared at Kokuwamon, hearing himself insulted. "So, you think you can  
stand up to me, huh? Think again! A Rookie's no better than an In-Training when it comes to  
fighting!"  
  
"We'll see about that!" Kokuwamon replied, and charged at the dragon. "Go get him, Kokuwamon!" Jim shouted. "Show him what you're made of!"  
  
Izzy and Sora grinned at each other.  
  
"There's nothing more beautiful than the bonding of a Digimon and his partner," Izzy  
remarked.  
  
"You can say that again," said Sora. She winced as the battle noises re-ensued. "I just  
hope there's something left of the both of them after all this!"  
  
Kokuwamon didn't waste any time in trying to make good his threats. MetalSeadramon  
whipped his tail at the beetle Digimon, but Kokuwamon leaped out of the way. When the tail  
came by again, he latched on with his sharp pincers and sent several thousand volts of electricity  
coursing through the beast's metal body. MetalSeadramon yelped - and then turned to deal with  
the attacks of MegaKabuterimon and Garudamon, who were taking advantage of his distraction  
to blast him for all they were worth. MetalSeadramon growled angrily. The attacks weren't doing  
any serious damage to him yet, but this was beginning to get painful. Stalactites rained down on  
everyone as he spat beam after beam of searing light at his antagonizers.  
  
"This is getting crazy!" Sora shouted, feeling chips of rock start bouncing off her hat.  
"All these falling rocks are going to bury us alive!"  
  
"Bury us alive," Jim repeated. "Bury us alive... and bury MetalSeadramon, too! That's it!  
Kokuwamon, let go of that crazy sea serpent for a minute and shoot the ceiling!"  
  
"Shoot the ceiling?" Sora repeated. "Jim, how hard did you hit your head?"  
  
"No, he's right!" Izzy replied. "We can't hurt MetalSeadramon, but we might be able to  
bury him! It's our best chance. MegaKabuterimon, you heard what Jim said! Shoot the ceiling!  
Knock some of those rocks down!"  
  
"You too, Garudamon!" Sora added.  
  
"You got it!" said Kokuwamon. "Spark Scissor!"  
  
"Horn Buster!"  
  
"Wing Blade!"  
  
Attacks flashed all around MetalSeadramon, sending piles of rubble crashing down on  
him. He tried to fight back, but his enemies stayed close to the roof, and the falling stones  
confused his aim. Every shot he through at them did nothing more than dislodge yet more rocks  
and send them crashing down on his head. He thrashed in frustration, but it did him no good. The  
rain of stone continued, until finally, with one earsplitting crash, the whole ceiling caved in,  
burying the metal monster under an avalanche of limestone. The air was filled with dust and the  
sound of falling rocks hitting iron plates. Then... silence.  
  
"Is it over?" asked Sora.  
  
"Where are the Digimon?" asked Jim. "I can't see them! Did they get buried?"  
  
"Just wait," Izzy replied. "Just give them a minute."  
  
They waited, and the clouds of dust settled. Slowly, the air cleared again, and the  
Digidestined could make out the shapes of a pink bird, a bug, and a small robot picking their way  
through the rubble. The kids cheered in unison and ran to hug their Digimon and congratulate  
them on a job well-done. Jim grinned as he embraced his partner; his Digimon had arms to hug  
back with, now.  
  
"See, JimHyumon?" asked Kokuwamon. "I told you I could do it!"  
  
"When did I have any doubts?" Jim laughed.  
  
"Now that we've taken care of MetalSeadramon, things will be quieter around here," Izzy  
said. "Now we can explore in a little more comfort."  
  
"Do you think we should explore over there?" asked Sora. "I think I see a light over  
there!"  
  
They all looked. In a place where there had appeared to be nothing more than a solid wall,  
there was now a jagged hole, probably ripped open while MetalSeadramon was thrashing around.  
  
"It is a light!" Biyomon chirped. "Maybe it's the others!"  
  
"In that case, we should investigate," Izzy replied. "Come on!"  
  
The team headed for the opening, climbing carefully over the heap of stones that covered  
the fallen MetalSeadramon. They didn't notice, beneath all that rubble, that the tip of his tail still  
twitched very slightly. They couldn't see his eyes slide slowly open. They were gone by the time  
he began to work the stones off of his body. It was painstaking and painful work, but he would  
get free sooner or later, and then someone would pay dearly.  
  
****************  
  
"We're lost!" stated Joe flatly.  
  
"We're not totally lost," Ikkakumon corrected. "We know we're still under the mountain,  
and we know the others are probably still down here with us. We'll find them again sooner or  
later."  
  
"I wish I had your optimism," Matt replied. "Personally, I think we're walking around in  
circles."  
  
"Swimming around in circles," Tai corrected. "Or at least, Ikkakumon is."  
  
"I am not!" Ikkakumon growled. "I know exactly where I'm swimming. For your  
information, I'm following the current. It has to lead us somewhere eventually."  
  
"Good thinking, Ikkakumon," his partner said. "Maybe if we're lucky, the stream will  
lead us out of this maze altogether."  
  
"I wonder what's become of the others?" Gabumon mused. "It's been a long time since  
we've seen them."  
  
"Yeah, and I'm worried about TK," Matt added. "He's too little to be all alone in the  
dark."  
  
"You don't know he's all alone," said Tai. "He's probably got at least one of the others  
looking after him. Hey, I don't know where Kari is, either, and you don't see me moping about it,  
do you?"  
  
"Hey, just because I care about my brother," said Matt acidly.  
  
"Take it easy!" said Joe. "There's not enough room up here for you two to start fighting.  
You'll fall in the water, and it'll be a lot of trouble to fish you out."  
  
"Besides, I never said I didn't care about Kari," Tai added. "I care a whole bunch for  
Kari. I just know she can take care of herself. She's a tough little kid, and so is TK. They've both  
got their Digimon to protect them. Can you imagine anything bad enough to stop Angemon and  
Angewomon when they get mad?"  
  
"Yeah, that's true," said Matt. "Sorry, Tai. I'm just getting a little antsy being stuck down  
here under a mountain and not being able to see anything and not knowing where anyone is... I  
guess I got scared," he finished quietly.  
  
"That's okay. Even I'm allowed to be scared sometimes, and I'm the Digidestined  
of Courage!" Tai joked.  
  
"Jim used to say that courage wasn't about not being afraid. It's about being afraid and  
still doing what you have to do," said Joe thoughtfully. "I wonder how he's doing? When you  
think about it, he's probably at more of a disadvantage than Kari and TK."  
  
"No time to worry about that now!" said Ikkakumon. "I see lights up ahead! Could be the  
others. Want me to move toward them?"  
  
"Go for it," Matt urged. "I'd be so happy to be able to see again, I wouldn't mind even if  
it was a pack of Meremon!"  
  
"You got it! Full steam ahead," Ikkakumon agreed.  
  
They paddled forwards. Gradually, unfelt by the children but noticed by Ikkakumon, the  
current began to veer away, and the water began to get shallower. Finally, the water gave out  
altogether, and the white walrus Digimon found himself standing on a pebbly beach.  
  
"Land ho!" he announced. "Everybody off! I'm starting to get tired of carrying you guys  
around on my back."  
  
"That's fine," said Joe, sliding off onto the ground. "You can ride on my back for a while  
- but only after you change back into Gomamon!"  
  
In a few minutes, the Champion Digimon had reverted to Rookie state, and the boys and  
their companions began walking toward the distant glow. It was a strange light, not orange like  
their flaming torches had been, but gold-green and steady. The further they went, the brighter it  
got, until they found themselves standing at the mouth of a tunnel, and they gasped in  
amazement.   
  
They were looking down on an underground city, standing at the top of a flight of stairs  
that led into a stone metropolis. Not only that, but the residents were all plainly evident, milling  
around in the streets and talking to each other in low, bubbly voices. Suddenly, Tai's foot  
dislodged a rock, and it clattered noisily down the stairs. All the Digimon stopped to stare at the  
intruders, and the Digidestined stared back at the thousands of bulbous eyes, eyes attached to  
stalks that were attached to thousands and thousands of annoyed-looking Numemon. 


	3. The City of Light and Shadow

_Disclaimer: Saban owns Digimon. I do not. If I owned Digimon, I wouldn't have had to spend fifteen bucks on Digimon merchandise last weekend. :- /_

**The City of Light and Shadow   
By: SilvorMoon**

Gatomon was becoming concerned for their partner. For the moment, the two of them seemed to be safe, walking alongside Mimi, TK, and their respective Digimon, following the lead of the unlikely warrior, Piximon. Gatomon had never met Piximon firsthand before, but she knew of his reputation, and she doubted there were few beings short of the Dark Masters themselves who would dare mess with the pint-sized magician. Even if there were, it was still likely he'd come out the victor if he had Angemon and Angewomon to back him up. The tunnels, though dark and damp, were certainly less forbidding than anything she'd seen in Myotismon's lair, and she thought they were actually rather pretty, in their way, with the torchlight flickering off the crystalline spires and arches. Piximon had augmented the small light of Mimi's torch with a glowing ball of light, and to Gatomon, everything looked reasonably pleasant. Mimi and TK seemed to think so - they were walking along cheerfully, chatting with their partners and Piximon. But Kari would not stop fidgeting! 

"What's wrong?" Gatomon finally asked. "You look nervous about something." 

"I'm not... nervous... exactly," said Kari, sounding distracted. "I just have this feeling. It's like I've been here before, a long time ago, only I can't remember it. Nothing looks the same... how can I be remembering something and not remembering it at the same time?" 

"It's not exactly a memory," said Piximon. "Not yours, anyway." 

"Huh?" said Mimi. 

"I'll explain it all later," Piximon replied. "For now, we must move quickly! The city awaits, and so do the queen's subjects." 

"I wanna see an underground city!" said TK. "Does it have skyscrapers and everything?" 

"I wouldn't mind seeing the city," Mimi muttered, "as long as they don't want their floors scrubbed." 

"You can say that again!" Palmon agreed. "I had blisters on my leaves for days!" 

"I didn't work you that hard, did I?" asked Piximon. 

"YES," said TK, Mimi, and their Digimon in unison. 

Piximon preened. "I'm getting better as this training stuff. Yup yup!" 

His former students sighed, and Kari looked curious. "Scrubbing floors? What are you guys talking about?" 

In reply, Mimi began a description of the Digidestined's first encounter with their flying friend and his notions about how young warriors should be trained. The description, with much elaboration on how hard they had to work, how little they got fed, and what all that soapy water had done to her nails, lasted them for several minutes. Gatomon smiled a bit, trying to hide the grin behind her paws. She didn't want Mimi to think she was laughing at her; the truth was she was simply pleased that Kari had been distracted from whatever had been haunting her... and, she was forced to admit, Mimi was an entertaining storyteller. She caught TK and Patamon trying to stifle similar grins, and she winked at them. The little group barely noticed that the walkway was gradually becoming wider, the floor more level, the walls smoother, and the ceilings developing graceful arcs instead of whatever shape nature had let it settle into. They did notice, however, when Piximon suddenly let his light go out. 

"Hey!" TK shouted. "What'd you do that for?" 

"Didn't I tell you?" Piximon asked. "We're going to the City of Shadows! That means you don't bring in any lights! The inhabitants don't allow any lights but their own. Do you want to get in trouble with the law?" 

"Kind of a silly law, if you ask me," Mimi grumbled. 

"Good reasons they have for it," answered Piximon, "so put that torch out!" 

Mimi did as she was told, though not without complaining about it quietly to herself, bending down to dunk the torch in a nearby puddle. She stopped with the flame just barely not touching the water and said, "How are we going to find each other in the dark?" 

Piximon made a face, and the children giggled. 

"Half asleep, I still am!" Piximon exclaimed. "Everyone hold hands, so you won't get lost. I'll lead the way." 

They lined up, Gatomon holding Kari's hand, Kari holding on to TK with Patamon riding on his head, TK holding to one of Palmon's leaves. Palmon held Mimi's hand, and Mimi was left holding on to the end of Piximon's spear. The torch got dumped clumsily into the water, and it fizzled and went out. The shadows became very intense. 

"Everyone ready back there?" called Piximon. "Let's go!" 

They went... slowly. The floor that had appeared smooth in the light suddenly seemed full of traps to trip the unwary, and every curve in the wall became an opportunity to stub a toe or bruise an elbow. The blackness didn't seem to bother Piximon, who flew merrily above their heads, calling down encouragements every time he heard the thumps and mutters of his charges stumbling in the dark. The children and their companions wandered along as best they could. 

"Now I know why they don't allow lights," Mimi said to Palmon. "They don't want anyone to get in alive." 

"It's not that bad, is it?" asked Piximon. "Don't worry! Only a little ways to go! See, there's the main entrance up ahead!" 

Everyone looked up, straining their eyes for a sight of anything. It was Gatomon who picked out the first shapes of a great doorway, ever-so-faintly outlined with weak blue light. 

"He's right, Kari," she said. "We'll be there soon." 

Kari nodded and gave her partner a light squeeze of thanks. Truth be told, she was developing a bad case of butterflies in the stomach. It wasn't, she realized, so much that she was afraid of something down there - or at least, that wasn't all of it. She felt like she was about to be called to task, as if she was about to go accept the blame for something she'd done wrong, apprehension mixed with guilt and a desire to go away and leave well enough alone. 

*_What's the matter with me? I didn't do anything wrong. I've never even been here before!_* 

Just then, her attention was caught by something moving, a heavy metallic clunk and a whine of gears. Two lights became visible in the dark, pale gold like fireflies, but they stayed a fixed distance apart, about eight feet off the ground. They were eyes. 

"Who goes there?" said a rumbling voice. "Show yourselves!" 

"We can't show ourselves any more than this!" Piximon retorted. "Open the door and shed a little light on the subject!" 

"But you might be intruders," the voice pointed out. "No intruders can be allowed into the City of Shadows!" 

The word "intruders" penetrated Mimi's fear and went wandering around in her head looking for the memory it was attached to. It found an image of a factory, a battle, a quarrel over a computer, and a robot who carried a spinning blade of energy. Then it found a name. 

"Andromon!" she exclaimed. "We aren't intruders, Andromon! It's me, Mimi - and TK, and Patamon and Palmon. You remember us, don't you?" 

The eyes blinked in the darkness, and then vanished entirely as their owner clanked over to the doors and shoved them ponderously open. A wave of blue-green light fell over all of them, illuminating everything in sickly colors. Now they could all see a tall, manlike machine with attenuated limbs standing guard next to the doorway. 

"It is you!" he exclaimed. 

"You know this guy?" asked Kari. 

TK nodded, smiling. "He's our friend. We met him a long time ago, back on File Island. He had a Black Gear stuck him that made him all crazy, but Izzy and Kabuterimon fixed him." 

"I came here after the Dark Masters reordered the world," said Andromon. "Now I act as guardian of the City of Shadows. I'm sorry for mistrusting you, but since this place became a haven for Digimon trying to escape Piedmon's rule, his minions have become harder and harder to keep out." 

"Things will get better now, though," said Piximon. "See what I've brought with me: the Child of Light!" 

Andromon tipped his head to look several feet down at the tiny child that stood looking up at him. Kari looked up at him, not sure what to make of this monstrous creature with the skull- like face and half-formed body. After a moment's consideration, she decided she liked him; his eyes showed nothing more sinister than a bit of puzzlement. 

"Are you sure?" Andromon asked. "She doesn't _look_ like-" 

"Of course she doesn't look like her," interrupted Piximon. "That doesn't matter. You robotic types have trouble sensing things you can't see or hear or touch. I'm telling you, she is the one." 

"What one?" asked Kari. 

"Not here," was all Piximon said. "I'll explain it inside. Come on!" 

He fluttered through the gates, leaving the children and their companions no choice but to follow along. The city was, as they had been told, a city of shadows, where even the lights were thin and strange, glowing in shades of blue or green or sickly yellow. The travelers walked quickly and quietly, trying not to look too much at the scenery. The blue lights made them feel as if they were underwater; the yellow was eye-dazzling, giving them brief headaches. They only got vague glimpses of the world they were traveling through: rough, moundlike buildings like wigwams or beehives. The streets were of the same slick white stone they had seen in other parts of the cave; here it flowed between the buildings like a river of melted vanilla ice cream, reminding Mimi that it had been a while since breakfast. 

However, any thoughts of food were put out of her head immediately as she realized who the inhabitants of this city were. They were hard to see, at first, because they shied away from even the weak and strangely shaded light that lit their underground world. They had small, slimy bodies and large, bulbous eyes and tongues that hung from between rows of knobby teeth. They smelled awful. They recognized Mimi. 

"Hey, cutie!" one burbled. "Long time no see!" 

"Didn't I see you in Toy Town?" another one asked. 

"Weren't you on Kokatrimon's ship?" asked a third. 

"Ew, gross, get away!" Mimi yelped. She looked around for someone to hide behind, but everyone was smaller than she was. She settled for moving closer to Piximon and hoping desperately that he wasn't really cruel enough to let those _things_ get too near her. 

"What are they?" asked Kari, staring at them with wide, curious eyes. 

"They're Numemon," Gatomon explained. "Myotismon used to have a few working for him, but they're not all that dangerous." 

"Yes they are!" Mimi wailed. "They keep trying to _kiss_ me!" 

"Hey, that's not a bad idea," said one of the Numemon, licking his lips appreciatively. Mimi shrieked at new levels of intensity. 

"Leave her alone," said Piximon, whacking the Numemon with his staff. "We don't have time to fool around. Besides, is that how you behave in the presence of your queen?" 

"What?" yelped several Numemon in unison. Their eyes bobbed around crazily as they searched for the monarch, shivering like globs of green Jello. "Where is she? Where is she?" 

"She's nearby, and she's watching you all," said Piximon sternly, "so you'd better behave!" 

Several dozen Numemon nodded in unison, despite their lacks of heads and necks, and they became models of propriety. 

"They won't bother you now," said Piximon. "Very frightened, they are, of the queen's wrath. She cursed them once, and they've never forgotten." 

"She sounds bad," said TK nervously. "Is she really here? Is she gonna get mad at us?" 

"Now's not the time," the little Digimon replied. "I want to take you to the palace. Come on! Step lively! Won't be long now." 

They kept moving. They left the little group of Numemon behind quickly enough, with Mimi practically dragging her small charges behind her, but news of their arrival preceded them anyway. Everywhere they went, little faces peeked out of shadows to look at them - mostly Numemon, but other creatures as well, refugees who had come to the City of Shadows seeking shelter from the Dark Masters. The pairs of staring eyes made them all nervous, as did the total silence that they maintained. Piximon was right: these people were afraid. And yet, there was a weird sort of hope in their eyes. Kari watched them all, suddenly feeling sorry for them. What had been done to them to make them like this? 

Finally, they came to a hill, barren of all buildings except one, much larger and more complex than the others. From a distance, one could make believe that it was a beautiful palace, but closer inspection revealed that it was only a much larger mound-house with other lumps and bumps added to make towers. There was, however, a grand, sweeping staircase leading up the side of the hill and into the gaping mouth of the building. The travelers stared in dismay. 

"You really like stairs, don't you?" Mimi muttered. 

Piximon shrugged. "I didn't put them here. Up we go! Then we can rest, and I'll tell you everything." 

Despite the number of steps, the climb wasn't steep, not bad at all, and it only took a few minutes for them to reach the top. There, they were met by what appeared to be a large Numemon with a snail shell on its back. It glared at them all and bobbed its eyes in the most threatening expression it could manage. 

"Halt!" it barked. "No one enters the castle of the queen!" 

"No one but the queen," Piximon corrected. 

"Right," the creature replied. 

"That means we're coming in," said Piximon. 

"But - but - but," stammered the Digimon, obviously confused. "I thought you said no one but the queen could get in, and she's not here." 

"Yes she is," Piximon replied. "Right there!" 

The little 'mon turned and flicked his spear at Kari, who froze as if turned to stone. 

"Me?!" she squeaked. 

"Her?" the Numemon creature asked. 

"Her," said Piximon. "I'm absolutely sure of it. Only the Queen of Light could have healed me and brought me back from death. It was her voice I heard. Even the name is right." 

"This is... Queen Kari?" 

Piximon nodded, bobbing in midair. The Numemon made a bubbling sound of surprise and suddenly became the soul of hospitality. 

"Welcome! Welcome!" it said, smiling and clearly attempting to look pleasant. "Enter, Majesty and friends of the queen! I am Shell Numemon, leader of this Numemon tribe. If there is anything you need, just ask." 

"Could we have something to eat?" Mimi piped up. 

Piximon glared at her as if he thought this was not at all the time to be worrying about their stomachs, but Shell Numemon looked pleased and scuttled off. Within a moment, he and a few other Numemon appeared carrying plates made of unglazed clay, each of them stacked with some form of food - small flat biscuits, something that looked like grapes, something else that appeared to be sushi. They set it on the floor and bowed respectfully before scampering away again. 

"Enjoy!" said Shell Numemon. "If there's anything else we can do for you, just call!" 

With that, he and his followers vanished into the shadows again. Piximon shrugged. 

"That wasn't what I wanted to do," he said, "but I suppose it can't hurt to eat while we talk." 

"You bet it can't!" said Mimi. She sampled a biscuit; it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, either. It was chewy and flavorless, reminding her faintly of clay. Still, she was hungry enough that she wasn't going to complain. What else could you expect from a Numemon? The rest of the group settled down to the serious business of eating - all but Kari, who stared at the spread in puzzlement. 

"Why did you tell them I'm a queen?" she asked. 

"Because you are," came the matter-of-fact reply, "and yet you are not." 

"You're going to have to explain a little better than that," said Kari. 

"I intend to," Piximon answered, "right now. You see, it all began many years ago, in the Old Days before the dawn of history, the time when all legends are born. In those days, the Digital World and your world were not two worlds, but one. It was a different kind of world, a World With No Name, because it was the only one we knew of. The World With No Name was full of Digimon, just like it is now, but many more different kinds then there are today, and the rulers of the world were the Hyumons." 

"Humans?" Kari repeated. 

"_Hyumons_," Piximon corrected firmly. "They were unlike any other kind of Digimon - each one was different, and they could master powers that were beyond all but the most powerful Digimon. They formed societies and built cities and schools. Many of the Digimon were so amazed by their powers that they chose some Hyumons to be kings and queens, to rule over them, to settle disputes, to teach them, and to protect them from enemies. 

"One such was a lady Hyumon who was called Kari, who ruled over the City of Light. Her subjects loved her for her beauty and grace, and also for her healing powers. She could put life back into the dying and strength into the weak. However, all the admiration and power also made her vain. She became less concerned with the doings of the world and more involved in enjoying the comforts of her palace and the company of her friends. 

"As it happened, her greatest admirers were the Numemon. They were weak and lowly creatures, and they believed her to be the most perfect thing that lived. They would have done anything for her, but she scorned them because they were so ugly. The more they tried to come near her, the more annoyed with them she became, until she finally lost her temper. She put a curse on the Numemon, banning them from her presence and from the light forever, dooming them to a life in the deep underground shadows. Until the curse is lifted, they can never see the sun again." 

"That's sad," said Kari softly. The Numemon weren't the most agreeable-looking creatures, but they didn't deserve to be cursed forever! "What happened to the queen?" 

"The same as happened to most of the other Hyumons," Piximon replied. "There came a time when other Digimon became jealous and frightened by the Hyumons' power. A few dark Digimon led a war to have the Hyumons driven away. Legend tells that such was the force of the war that followed that the very foundations of the world were split. Many Hyumons died, and so did many innocent Digimon. Most of those Hyumon that did survive were cast into one half of the world, along with many of the Digimon that had aided them. There, parted from the primal stuff of this world - what you'd call magic - they gradually lost their powers. Those that were most like animals became fully animal; the Hyumons..." 

"They became us. Humans," Kari finished. 

"Right," Piximon replied. "Only a very few of the most powerful remained here. Many went into hiding, slipping into other spaces where they couldn't be followed. A few were killed, Queen Kari among them. Thus, the curse was never lifted. The Numemon tell of a prophecy that someday their queen will return and release them." He leveled her a piercing stare. "The legend has now come to pass." 

"But..." Kari began, and realized she couldn't think of anything to say next. It was all a little much for her to absorb at once. Maybe to the Numemon it was matter-of-fact, but she couldn't take all this business about Hyumon's and wars and queens without a little time to think about it. 

However, it didn't look like she was going to get a chance to think - at least not right away. In the silence that followed, the group could make out distant sounds of someone shouting. Lots of someones, very excited someones. They were getting closer and closer to the palace, becoming louder as they went, until it was plain what they were saying: "Prisoners! Make way, make way! Prisoners for the queen!" 

Kari may not have been sure about this queen business, but she knew trouble when she heard it marching up the road. Without waiting to ask questions, she hurried out the door and down the front stairs just in time to meet a massive throng of Numemon on their way up. As soon as she came into view, all of them lowered their eyes in a bow, leaving in plain view the fact that they were carrying things. Bound tightly in ropes of some greenish material that looked suspiciously like seaweed were six wiggling shapes, three large and three small, all looking very uncomfortable. Several of the Numemon, who wore sashes of grey material to mark them as soldiers, marched forward and dropped the squirming bundles at Kari's feet. The captives, blindfolded, thrashed around in terror. 

"We captured these prisoners for you, Majesty," said one of the soldier-Numemon. "They were sneaking around the south exit. They are intruders. We recommend they be thrown in the lake to drown. No outsider can see the secret City of Shadows and live." 

Kari stared. The bundles were wrapped so thoroughly that there was almost no figuring out what they were, but one of them looked familiar to her. For a moment, she was dumbstruck. Then she spoke. 

"You can't throw him in the lake!" she shouted. "That's my brother!" 

~*~

Noises echoed through the narrow cavern. One was a steady plod of footsteps on hard stone, but that was nothing unusual. The others were a bit stranger: a buzz, a flutter, and a metallic clanking. 

"These tunnels just go on and on," said Jim, looking around with discomfiture. 

"They have to end somewhere," Sora replied. 

"That may be true," said Izzy. His face was faintly illuminated by the glow from his laptop "Still, some underground tunnels can go on for miles and miles. We don't have any idea whether we're going up or down anymore." 

"I was just trying to be optimistic," said Sora, "unlike some people." 

"And I was trying to be realistic. Optimism's not going to get us out of this mess." 

"Oh yeah? Well, neither is scaring us with your useless facts!" 

Izzy glowered. "My facts are not useless!" 

"Hey, hey, hey!" shouted Jim, stepping between the two. "We don't need to have an argument in here! We have no idea what kind of critters might be living down here... besides the fact that fighting isn't very good for morale. Apologize and shake hands, and let's put our minds to thinking of a way out." 

For a moment, his fellow travelers looked affronted, but then they relaxed. 

"He's right," said Sora. "We're not accomplishing anything this way. Sorry, Izzy." 

"That's okay, Sora. We're all a little unnerved down here," Izzy replied. "I didn't mean to upset you. People just aren't meant to spend so much time underground; I can't blame you for being tense." 

"Digimon aren't meant to be underground either," said Tentomon. "At least, I'm not. I'd almost rather be out in the rain again. At least then there would be some fresh air." 

"You said it," Biyimon agreed, mournfully flapping her wings. 

"Personally," said Kokuwamon to Jim, quietly so the others wouldn't hear, "I'd rather be down here. I'm a machine Digimon - I don't do so well out in the weather. If I went out in the rain now, it would short my circuits. If we do find the way out, would they be angry if I wanted to stay inside?" 

"Don't worry," said Jim. "I'm sure they'd understand. Everyone here is so different from each other... they've got to be used to accommodating each other by now." 

"I don't know about that. They're fighting with each other now, aren't they?" 

Jim was stumped by that one. While he was looking for an answer, Izzy glanced over and noticed his companion's discomfiture. 

"What's wrong, Jim?" he asked. 

"Kokuwamon's just worried," said Jim. "He thinks you might get mad at him if you disagreed with him over something." 

"We wouldn't do that!" said Sora. "Though we have been a little grumpy, lately, what with rain and monsters and all. We're not usually this tense; you're seeing our bad side." 

Kokuwamon clicked his pincers, and Jim sensed more than saw that his partner was frowning. "I think it's something more than that. I have... not quite a memory. A feeling. People used to get angry at me a lot. I don't think they were very nice people, though. You all are much nicer." 

"Thanks," said Izzy, looking pleased. "Sora's not usually bad-tempered even when she's unhappy. She always looks for the good side of things. Not like me. When I'm in trouble, I just hide in my computer and wait for everything to blow over." 

Kokuwamon's eyes lit up. "You can hide in that little computer?" 

Jim laughed. "That's just a figure of speech. He means he ignores everything but his laptop until the problem goes away." 

"That's not much different from what I do," said Sora glumly. "If something's going wrong, I try to pretend it isn't, or that it's not as bad as it really is... just like I was doing a minute ago. We really are in trouble, aren't we?" 

"It can't be that bad," said Jim. "If nothing else, we've beaten MetalSeadramon, haven't we? That ought to get us out of some trouble at least. He can't send any more monsters to chase us." 

"I sure hope not. Our Digimon must be pretty wiped out after that last fight," Sora commented. 

"I am a little hungry," said Tentomon. "Not that I'm complaining or anything." 

"Do you think there's anything to eat down here?" asked Biyomon plaintively. She looked around, but all there was to be seen were rocks. 

"At least that's one thing I don't have to worry about now," said Kokuwamon. "I don't need to eat in this shape... my batteries could do with charging, though." 

"Let me try something," said Izzy. "Right now, there's so much rock in the way, my Digivice can't get any clear signals, but I think that if I can tap into one of the main communication channels through the DigiWorld, I might be able to use it to boost our Digivices' capabilities enough to find our friends in this maze." 

"I'll take your word for it," said Sora. 

"I hope that was a joke. I was being purposely simple just for your sake," Izzy replied. "Anyway, just give me a minute, and hopefully I'll find something useful." 

The Digidestined halted a moment, leaning against the walls while Izzy sat down on a rock and hunched over his laptop. For a moment, the only sound was a frantic scrabbling against the keyboard that echoed from the walls. Jim, peeking over Izzy's shoulder, could see row after row of computer symbols appearing against the white screen. Then everything shifted, showing him a brief series of wireframe images that twisted and turned until the screen was full of them. Finally, everything flattened out, showing a number of black and green lines laid out like worm tracks. Little lights blinked here and there. 

"Prodigious!" Izzy enthused. "I've got us a map! See, here we are and there's the rest of the gang... they're not far off." 

Tentomon buzzed over for a better look. "They're straight ahead. We would have found them without a map." 

"Humph," said Izzy, sounding miffed. "We wouldn't have known that unless I'd looked. We _could_ have been completely lost, for all we knew. Anyway, let me see if I can get this thing a bit clearer, just to make sure there's nothing obstructing the path." He tapped a few keys, then gave a start. "What the...?" 

The other Digidestined craned their heads for a better look. The point where their friends had been was now swallowed up in white light. 

"What's going on?" asked Sora. 

"I'm not sure," Izzy replied. "My computer's picking up a tremendous surge of energy coming from that direction... and there's something else. Look at that!" 

He pointed at the bottom of the screen. They could see a long golden streak moving rapidly through the corridors, occasionally boring its own. 

"What is it?" asked Jim, though he had a sinking feeling he knew. 

Instead of answering, Izzy shut his laptop with a sharp snap and slung it back over his back. He grabbed the other Digidestined's hands and began dragging them away as fast as he could run, leaving the Digimon to scamper after them. 

"What are we running from?" Sora panted. 

"We've gotta find the others," Izzy called back. "MetalSeadramon's alive - and he's headed right for them!" 

~*~

The Numemon looked at each other in puzzlement. 

"The queen has a brother?" one wondered. 

"I didn't know that," another one said. 

"What's all the commotion out here?" called a voice, and Piximon fluttered out into the crowd. He caught sight of the bundles, looked at them curiously a moment, and then shot a glare at the Numemon guards. "What's this all about? You can't go capturing my students without telling me about it first!" 

"These belong to you?" one of the guards asked. 

"These are the Digidestined children!" said Piximon sternly. "You should know better than to go capturing them out of hand. Here." 

With a deft twirl of his spear, he slit the prisoners' bonds, leaving three human boys and three Digimon panting for breath on the ground. 

"Tai! Are you okay?" asked Kari, dropping to her knees to help her brother. 

"I'm fine," he said, pulling himself to a sitting position. "Looks like you're okay, too. I was worried about you." 

"I'm fine. Mimi and Piximon and Gatomon were here looking after me," she answered. 

"Matt!" shouted a little voice, and TK came hurrying down the stairs to hug his brother. "Where were you? I missed you!" 

"I missed you too, TK," said Matt. 

Joe resettled his glasses and looked at the reunions going on around him. 

"It's times like this I feel left out," he said. 

"It's okay, Joe! I still love you!" Gomamon chirped, jumping playfully onto his partner's shoulders. 

Just then, there was a squeal - Mimi had arrived on the scene and had figured out what was going on. 

"You're all right!" she exclaimed, latching onto the only un-hugged member of the group, which happened to be Joe. "You guys ran off and left me to look after everyone all by myself, and I had no idea where you were or what to do! I thought you'd all been eaten by Crabmons or something! I'm so glad you're okay!" In her fits of hysterics, she was hugging Joe as hard as she could without even seeming to know what she was doing, while the boy struggled to loosen her strangle hold. Gomamon and Palmon were making matters worse by trying to hug both of them. 

"Me and my big mouth," Joe muttered. 

"But where's everyone else?" asked Agumon, looking around. "Shouldn't Izzy and Sora and Jim be around somewhere?" 

Kari looked puzzled. "I thought they were with you." 

"So, if they're not with us and they're not with you..." Tai muttered. 

"They're still out there somewhere," said Matt. "They wouldn't let themselves get caught." 

"But Agumon and Gabumon are the only two 'mons that can go to Mega," Joe pointed out. "Jim's Digimon hasn't even gone up to Rookie yet. If they run into MetalSeadramon, aren't they sort of going to get creamed?" 

"Joe, don't say things like that!" Mimi exclaimed. 

"Mimi's right," said Kari. "Thinking like that won't get us anywhere. Hey, Numemon..." All the bug-eyed creatures looked up expectantly. "Why don't you guys go out into the tunnels and see if you can find the rest of my friends - more humans like this." 

The Numemon turned that one over in their minds, muttering to each other in their burbling voices. 

"Whatever you wish, my queen," said the leader. "Come on, guys, let's get moving!" 

With enthusiastic noises, the creatures streamed away in a slimy wave, heading down the street and into the shadows. The newly arrived Digidestined watched with blank looks. 

"What was that all about?" asked Matt. 

Tai gave his sister a curious stare. "Was I imagining things, or did that Numemon call you a queen?" 

"It's a long story," said Kari with a sigh. "I don't really understand it myself." 

"I'm not going to have to explain it all again, am I?" asked Piximon, sounding annoyed. 

"I'll take your word for it!" said Tai hastily. To Agumon, he added, "I'm not about to get him on my case again." 

"So now Kari's the queen of the Numemon? That's one I'd never have seen coming," Matt commented. 

"Not exactly," Piximon replied. "Queen Kari is the ruler of the Numemon. Your sister is only a stand-in." 

"Huh?" said Gatomon. "But I thought you said... wait a minute, I'm confused." 

"Queen Kari is long gone," Piximon replied, "but her strength of spirit is such that she could not be completely destroyed. She lives on as a spirit and a collection of data, watching over the Digital World, biding her time. Your spirit is in harmony with hers, joined to her by the power of Light. You might even think of her as a soul-sister. You two are so close that she is able to communicate through you across the void." 

"Is that possible?" asked Tai. 

"It's been known to happen," Piximon answered with a shrug. "I know what I heard. Queen Kari was an old friend of mine, way back when. It was her voice I heard when I lay dying, and her power that healed me. No one else could have done it, and she did it through your sister and the power of the Crest of Light. I believe it is also through her that the curse can be lifted." 

"That's crazy!" said Tai. "There's no ghost lady hanging around my little sister!" 

"He's right, Tai," said Kari quietly. "I have felt something, the whole time I've been down here. She's right here with me, somehow... I can feel what she's feeling. She's sorry for what she's done, and she wants to make it right." 

"So," said Piximon, nodding. "It's just as I thought. You really are the one. Now all you have to do is break the spell." 

"How do I do that?" asked Kari. 

Piximon shrugged. "No idea." 

"What?" asked Kari. "How am I supposed to break a spell when I don't know what I'm doing? I can't do anything if I don't know where to start." 

"You have to," Piximon replied. "You're the only one who can." 

Kari paused at that, thinking hard. Somewhere in the back of her mind was a flickering light, dancing through her thoughts, hinting, suggesting. The Numemon had been cursed. Why? Because the queen had been angry at them. All that time, her annoyance with them had built and built, growing like a steadily fed bonfire until it had finally lashed out to hurt all of them. Now they lived in fear of the queen even though she was long gone. They had never forgotten that they had angered the queen they had been so loyal to. Now Queen Kari had been through a few centuries of ghostly near-death, time to think about all she had done and to realize the folly of her pride. She wished to atone for what she'd done, but there was no way left for her to do it, except through her young avatar. It was such a small, simple thing... 

"The wait is over," said Kari softly... but her voice resonated, carrying up and down the streets, into the houses and finding the ears of every living thing in the city. "The waiting time is over. You are forgiven, and I am sorry." 

Something in the air shivered. The air around Kari seemed to shimmer - no, it really was shimmering, casting off a cool, pearly glow that spread out from her, slipping in a soft rush down the stony streets. Everywhere it went, shadows were driven away, and the ghostly lights turned into pure ones that burned like earthbound stars. For an instant, the entire city pulsed with light. Then, with a sound like a long, satisfied sigh, the light vanished. Kari dropped to her knees, looking pale. 

"Are you all right?" asked Gatomon, trying to prop her partner up. 

"I'm fine," said Kari weakly, "just a little dizzy... Did it work?" 

"It is done," said Piximon solemnly. 

"Three cheers for Kari!" shouted one of the Numemon. The cry was taken up by others, until the entire city echoed with reverberating, bubbly shouts. Kari rose to her feet slowly, a quiet smile playing across her face. She bowed, and the cheering redoubled. The other Digidestined stared blankly, still not sure what was going on. 

"I'm still not sure what just happened, but I'm guessing it's a good thing," said Tai. 

"It's the stuff of legends," said Piximon. "Be proud, you should." 

It took a while for the celebrating to die down - the Numemon were dancing in the streets, and even the refugee 'mons who had nothing to do with the prophecy were joining in the fun, realizing something great had happened. Kari, still seeming a little dazed, smiled and even consented to hug a few of the Numemon who came to thank her. (Mimi preferred to deny them that pleasure, though not for their lack of trying.) However, in the middle of all the jubilant chaos, someone was winding up the crowded streets, pushing their way toward the capital building. It was Joe, uncomfortable with all the noise and commotion, who first noticed the new arrivals. 

"Jim!" he shouted. "Jim, Sora, Izzy, you made it! Hey, look, everyone, our friends are here!" 

"Huh?" Tai turned around to see the remaining Digidestined hurrying as fast as they could up the steps. "Hey, guys! Glad you could make it! You're just in time for the party." 

"We don't have time for a party," Izzy panted. He'd been running full-throttle, and he wasn't the athlete that Tai was. "MetalSeadramon's on his way here, and I have a hunch he's really, really angry." 

"Oh, man, we totally forgot about him!" Matt exclaimed, slapping his forehead in chagrin. 

"While you guys have been partying, we've been trying to get away from him," said Jim. "We've already had to stand and fight him once, and we were lucky to get away." 

"Well, you'll just have to fight him again," said Tai, his expression turning businesslike. "This time, he'll have the whole team to deal with!" 

"And me," Piximon added, brandishing his spear. "I'm with you all!" 

"And me as well," added a deep voice, as Andromon pushed through the crowd. "I won't allow intruders here, even if they're the Dark Masters themselves!" 

There was an echoing murmur from the crowds. Shell Numemon stepped up to Kari. 

"We can never thank you enough for breaking the curse on us," he said. "My people and I will pay you back by fighting your enemies!" 

"We'll help, too!" piped up one of the refugee Digimon, a Gotsumon. "This place is the only home we have left since the Dark Masters came, and we're not giving it up!" 

"That settles it, then!" said Tai. "When MetalSeadramon gets here, he's going to find a lot more than he's bargained for!" 

In the next instant, there was a crash as the steel dragon ripped through the front gate of the city and came crashing down the main street. His eyes were blazing; he was beyond furious now, smashing buildings in a blind rage. River of Power attacks shot at random through the city without a care for what they hit, if anything. Stalactites rained down, and for a moment, there was utter chaos. 

"Don't panic!" shouted the Numemon soldiers. "Prepare to defend your city! _Fire!_" 

MetalSeadramon was enraged to find himself suddenly being pelted with sludge from all sides as thousands of Numemon attacked for all they were worth. Here and there another attack would make it through to him as the refugees joined in. Everywhere he turned, he was either being barraged with rocks or fireballs, or nearly being blinded by flying slime. He bellowed and thrashed, and a few defenders dissolved into digital sparks, but the attacks kept coming at him. With a wild war cry, Andromon rushed at the dragon brandishing his Lightning Blade, and MetalSeadramon had to duck to avoid having one of his fins sliced off. Piximon hovered over the melee, lobbing bombs down at the enemy that left dents in his armor. 

"That'll buy us some time," said Tai, "but they won't last forever. Time to digivolve, guys!" 

There were assorted shouts as the Digimon rose to their highest forms and rushed to join the battle. Jim glanced at Kokuwamon inquisitively. 

"You think you're ready to take it up another level?" he asked. 

"I'm always ready for a fight!" Kokuwamon replied. 

"Right, then. Do your thing!" Jim held up the Digivice, and Kokuwamon nodded. 

"Kokuwamon, digivolve to... _Mechanorimon!_" 

Jim stared. Standing before him was a heavy-bodied robot, with short legs and long arms that dragged the ground, tipped with knifelike claws. Just above the head was a glass dome, which flipped open as Jim watched to reveal a cockpit. 

"Jump in, Jim," said a reverberating voice. "You're going for a ride!" 

Jim didn't hesitate; it never occurred to him that he might not go into battle with his partner once that cockpit opened. Mechanorimon used one arm to lift his friend into place, and Jim settled into a chair that fit like it was made for him. The glass dome flipped down, sealing him inside. He set his hands on the controls. 

"Ready," he said. 

There was a soft rush of rockets, and Jim felt himself being lifted off the ground. There was a slight lurch as the 'mon's arms folded into airfoil wings, and then he tilted and shot forward. Jim guided the living machine effortlessly; it was as if he'd been doing this since the day he was born, or as if his mind was working in synchronization with his Digimon's. It was as if they had become one being, and despite the fact that he knew he was in danger and was quite likely going to get himself hurt, Jim grinned. 

"Hang on, Jim, we're going in," hummed Mechanorimon's voice. It came from all around, thrumming through Jim's bones, reinforcing the feeling that the two were one. Jim nodded and fastened a handy seatbelt. As soon as he was secure, they went into a sharp dive. They could see a swarm of green blobs mobbing a thrashing golden streak that was MetalSeadramon. Beams of blue shot from the mass like spotlights, and the flying duo swerved as one missed them by a yard. A pair of gleaming shapes shot by: Angemon and Angewomon, pitching white and gold lights back at the thrashing dragon. Also hovering above the battlefield were Garudamon and Lillymon, hurling fireballs, while MegaKabuterimon sent blast after blast of lightning raining down. Zudomon was wading through the crowd, smashing his hammer down every time he could get close enough to MetalSeadramon, sending radiating cracks through the golden armor. 

"Where are Matt and Tai's Digimon?" Jim wondered. 

"Holding back," came the answer. "See? They're over there in the corner. There are too many people around here right now; if a Mega Digimon fired off a blast at full power in here, someone would get hurt." 

"Then what we need is a change of scenery," Jim muttered. "How far up is the ground, do you think?" 

A computer screen in front of him flickered, a visual record of Mechanorimon's mental calculations. "Not far. Only a few hundred yards, less than that in a few places." 

"Can you get through?" 

"Just watch me work," Mechanorimon replied. "_Twin Beam!_" 

The machine Digimon sent two blasts of light at the ceiling, and a large chunk of rock was reduced to sand and pebbles. A few stray Digimon scurried to get out of the way as the rubble fell, but Mechanorimon didn't worry about them. He continued blasting, clearing a rough but fairly straight tunnel going straight up. With a final explosion, they burst through, and warm sunshine streamed down, letting Jim and his partner hurtle up into the sky. 

Down below them, MetalSeadramon saw the flash of light and looked up. By this point, he was beginning to have a creeping feeling that he was beaten. Mega he might have been, but he was outnumbered to the point where it was ridiculous. He could barely see, thanks to the smaller Digimon who were lobbing their attacks at his eyes. He was scorched, battered, chipped, dented, and even frozen in a few places, plated with ice where MetalGarurumon had managed to take a few shots at him. All in all, he was ready to get out of here, and the opening of the hole drew him like a magnet. He shot straight up out of the fray, trailing Numemon like dust from a comet. The smaller Digimon shouted at him, but he didn't bother to listen to their taunts; he wanted _out._ Those 'mons that could fly took off after him, each pausing long enough to lift up their partner as they passed. Zudomon, unequipped with wings, scooped Joe up and took a flying leap, bounding from the ground to the top of the queen's palace, then leaping from there to the tunnel entrance, using his huge paws to grip the freshly broken rock while Joe clung to his shell for dear life. Then they were at the surface, facing off with a gleaming golden dragon. He was burned, befouled, and pain-maddened. 

"_You_," he growled, managing to imbue the single word with every profanity known since time began. "You think you're going to destroy me, do you? I'll make you pay dearly for it! You'll pay for doing this for me! _River of Power!_" 

"_Twin Beam!_" The attack struck the side of MetalSeadramon's face, throwing off his aim, and the streak of blue energy flew harmlessly into the sky. MetalSeadramon whirled on Mechanorimon. 

"Oh, it's you again," he snarled. "Getting bigger and badder all the time... and carrying a _human_, of all things. When I knew you, you had more pride." 

For a moment, Jim felt a weakening in his partner's defenses. 

"You knew me?" asked Mechanorimon. "You remember who I am?" 

"Of course I remember," MetalSeadramon replied. "I was there the day they hatched you. I couldn't see the point of you then, and I don't see why anyone needs you now." 

"You're lying," said Mechanorimon. "I never would have spent any time with a creature as evil as you." 

"Oh, you want to bet?" MetalSeadramon laughed. "Shows just how wrong a Digimon can be." 

"Don't listen to him," Jim urged. "He's just trying to bait you." 

"You shouldn't be helping these people," said MetalSeadramon. "The Dark Masters are the only ones who know your true heritage. Destroy us, and you destroy yourself." 

Jim felt his partner trembling, anger and pain coursing through his circuits. 

"Don't listen to him," said Jim again, sounding almost pleading. 

There was a thrumming noise deep within the machine as his gears turned. Then there was silence. Mechanorimon had come to a decision. 

"Destroy him," he said. 

His lasers flashed, and bolts of light rained down on the serpent. At that signal the other Digimon began their attacks, and MetalSeadramon roared his defiance. For a moment, he was silhouetted against the sun, all power and glory and golden armor. Then WarGreymon rose up above him, and, with a carefully aimed dive, went straight down the monster's throat. Blades flashed as his Dramon Destroyer weapons went into effect cutting the monster apart from the inside out and leaving nothing but shimmering ribbons. They hung in the air for a moment before exploding in a golden light and vanishing. With a communal sigh, the Digimon dropped to the ground in exhaustion. However, no sooner had they come to rest when the ground began to tremble. 

"Is it caving in?" called Joe over the rumbling. 

"Even worse!" Izzy called back. "The Dark Masters had reprogrammed the Digital World to suit themselves. Now that the Dark Master controlling this area is gone, it's reverting to its original state!" 

"What does that mean?" asked Matt. 

"It means we have to run for it before the ground gets deleted!" Izzy shouted back. He leaped onto his Digimon's back. "Come on, MegaKabuterimon - move it!" 

There was a scramble as Digidestined bounded onto the backs of their partners and made a mad dash for whatever direction was away. Mimi, risking a glance back, could see the distant ocean vanishing in a cloud of blue sparkles, giving way to a measureless expanse of darkness. Finally, they reached a place that was neither wet nor sandy, but covered with soft grass and covered in trees. As soon as they were on solid ground, the Digimon dropped their partners onto the grass before dropping themselves, flopping down on the turf to rest. From there, they could stand and watch as the last of MetalSeadramon's empire faded away. 

"Is it... gone?" asked Sora, staring out in wonder at the stretch of nothingness. 

"Fortunately, no," Izzy replied. "It's just being reprocessed. It's my theory that when the last of the Dark Masters falls, the world will be rebuilt the way it was." 

"No turning back, huh?" Tai remarked. He scooped up a rock and tossed it into the darkness. It sailed a little way, then vanished in an explosion of data. Tai shuddered. "Well, I'm not going out _there,_ anyway... Hey, Kari, what's wrong?" 

Kari had come to stand next to him, looking out into the darkness. Her eyes had a faraway look to them. 

"What do you see?" Tai asked softly. 

"A city," said Kari dreamily. "It's all white walls and spires, everything shining... It's the City of Light. The Queen... she wanted me to know what I saved. What it looked like before the Dark Masters took it away." She turned her eyes to her brother, slowly coming to look more focused. "It's beautiful, Tai. I wish you could see it." 

"Someday we will," Tai replied. "After the world it put back the way it was, you can take me here and show it to me." 

"So where are we now?" asked Mimi. "I think I like this place better than the last one. I hate having sand in my clothes." 

"This is the Forest of Gears," said Kokuwamon. "Hey, how did I know that? I haven't been here before... have I?" 

"Isn't that what you said last time?" Jim asked. "Maybe your memory really is coming back." 

"Maybe," said Kokuwamon. "It feels like, the more I grow up, the more powerful I become, the more I start to feel clear in my mind. Do you think if I could make it up to Mega, all my memories would come back? Then I could remember what happened to the thing I lost." 

"I sure hope so," Jim replied. 

"Me, too," said Tai. "No offense, but there's something just a little creepy about you not being able to remember anything. I dunno why, but there is. Something feels wrong about it." 

"You said it," Kokuwamon muttered. "I _hate_ not being able to remember!" 

"The Forest of Gears, huh?" Izzy muttered. "I wonder why they call it that? It looks like an ordinary forest to me. No gears at all, not even wooden ones." 

"It looks like a good place to rest, anyway," Matt replied, "and maybe we can find something to eat, while we're at it. Is anyone else hungry?" 

"Starving," said the Digimon in unison. 

Tai laughed. "Fine, then. Let's go find some food! Into the Forest of Gears!" 

And the little band trooped into the woods. Kari spared one last glance over her shoulder, and felt a twinkling presence brush through her mind, running through her thoughts in something that felt like a smile and a goodbye. Kari smiled back, and then turned and followed her friends into the darkness of the forest.


	4. Something Lost

**Something Lost**

**By: SilvorMoon**

"...Cinderella dressed in yella went upstairs to kiss her fella, made a mistake and kissed a snake..." 

Puppetmon skipped his way through Piedmon's castle, using his strings as a jump rope. Just to amuse himself, he tried a few complicated quicksteps, finishing off with a midair somersault. He sighed; there was just no challenge in this anymore. To tell the truth, there just wasn't much challenge in anything lately. He would have thought that ruling a quarter of the Digital World would have given him _some_ scope for his talents, but he was actually more bored than ever. He had _responsibilities_ now - the last thing he'd ever wanted - and not only that, but nobody wanted to play with him. True, he had lots of servants who'd obey his every word, but they all went where he sent them and did what he told them. There was no challenge at all that. 

"I'm bored," he complained loudly, hopscotching his way across a tiled floor. "Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored!" 

"You're a board, indeed, and likely to be used for kindling if this keeps up." 

"Wha?" said Puppetmon, surprised. He lost his rhythm in his skipping, tangled his feet up in his strings, and fell on his pointed nose. "Ow! What'd you hafta go and do that for?" 

"I could ask the same of you," answered Piedmon, gliding out of the shadows. "You're pathetic. You can't even skip ropes properly, much less win a battle." 

"I was doing just fine until you came along and messed me up," muttered Puppetmon trying to straighten his nose. Piedmon ignored him. 

"I shudder to think," he said, "that you are all I have left." 

"Wha?" said Puppetmon again. "But... Seadramon...?" 

"Gone," Piedmon replied, "which you would know about, if you had been paying attention instead of playing your childish little games. So now it is down to you and me... how pitiful. Either of the others would be better than an animate child's toy. If only I hadn't lost Machine Dramon..." 

Piedmon paused in mid-sentence. Slowly, he smiled, giving Puppetmon a speculative look that made the wooden 'mon back away a few paces. 

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked. 

"You said you were bored, didn't you?" answered Piedmon. "I've just thought of something for you to do." 

"Oh?" 

"You're going to bring me Machine Dramon." 

"Wha?" 

"Would you stop saying that?" Piedmon snapped. "Look, it's perfectly simple - even your sawdust filled brain ought to be able to handle it. He's trying to come back now. All he needs is a push in the right direction." 

"What about the Digidestined? They've already taken out Machine Dramon and Metal Seadramon! I don't want to be next!" 

"Then just don't let them see you," answered Piedmon with dangerous patience. "Honestly, am I the only one in the entire Digital World who knows how to think? Or has your mind got termites? Whether you like it or not, I have given you an order: go find what's left of Machine Dramon and bring him back. Is that understood?" 

Puppetmon looked at Piedmon. The clown's face was, as always, as unreadable as his painted mask, but he was balancing a knife on the tip of his finger, and the puppet knew how quickly the clown could move, and how good his aim was. 

"Oh, goodie," he said. "Just what I wanted to do." 

~*~

The Digidestined sat in a rough circle on the forest floor, enjoying the peace and quiet. Several hours underground, spent after a few more in the driving rain, had given them a deep appreciation for sunshine and fresh air, not to mention the absence of hostile Digimon. After the all the chaos of the underground City of Shadows, they all felt the need to stop and catch their breath for a while... and, of course, to eat. 

"This is a real improvement on the last place we were at," Tai remarked, taking a large bite out of an apple. 

"I'll say," said Mimi, leaning back to let the sun shine on her face. "I was starting to think we'd be stuck underground forever!" 

"It's hard to believe there's a Dark Master controlling this area," Matt mused, watching Gabumon forage among the shrubs. "It seems so peaceful here. Who's left now, Izzy?" 

"Hm?" As usual, Izzy was playing with his computer and ignoring everything else. "Man, my batteries can't be going dead already! Hooking up to the Digital World's sub-network must have taken more out of it than I thought it would... Did you say something, Matt?" 

"Nope," Matt sighed. "Didn't say a thing." 

"Do you need a hand?" asked Kokuwamon curiously. Not needing to eat, he'd recharged with a jolt of electricity from Tentomon, and was now helping Jim crack a heap of walnuts. 

"Only if you know where I can recharge my computer's battery," Izzy replied. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find an electrical outlet, would you?" 

"Come on, Izzy, I thought you were smarter than that," said Tai. "We're in the middle of the woods! There's not a plug for miles around." 

"Sure there is," said Kokuwamon. 

So saying, he got up and began prodding a few of the nearby trees. After a few tries, he found one that clicked when he touched it, and a hidden panel swung open, revealing an electrical outlet. The children stared. 

"Power plant," the metal 'mon explained, pointing at the tree. 

"Great," Joe sighed. "We've entered the land of the living puns." The girls giggled, and TK and Kari laughed aloud. 

"It is kind of low humor," agreed Izzy, "but all jokes aside, that's exactly what I needed. Thanks, Kokuwamon!" 

While the redhead went to plug in his computer, the others simply stood in stared, intrigued by the concept of an electric tree. 

"How did you know about that?" Jim asked, even though he knew what the reply would be. He couldn't shake the impulse to keep asking until something got a real answer. 

Kokuwamon shrugged. "I don't know. I just did. Besides, this is the Forest of Gears, remember? Everything here is mechanical." 

"Like you?" Jim suggested. 

"I don't think so," Kokuwamon answered thoughtfully. "I know I've been here before, but... it's not home. There was another place... I remember skyscrapers, and a red sky, and the machines..." He shook his head. "As soon as I start to think about it, it goes away again." 

"Well, that's definitely more than you knew in the beginning," said Jim encouragingly. 

"All right!" said Izzy, cutting into their thoughts. "Computer's running at optimum capacity. Now we can start getting our bearings and figuring out where to go from here. You've got to admit, we are a little lost right now." 

"I guess that's true," said Tai. "We can't even see the mountain from here - just trees and more trees." 

"Well, if I can figure out where we were in that mess of a maze, I'm sure I can pinpoint our location from here," said Izzy. 

"Oh, boy, this could take a while," said Jim, rolling his eyes. "We don't really have to pay attention, do we? 

"Nah, Wonder Boy can take care of himself," said Matt. "Hey, Izzy, wake the rest of us up when you're done, okay?" 

"Hm?" said Izzy. "Don't bother me now, Matt. This is harder than it looks." 

"I've got a better idea," said Sora. "How about we wake _him_ up when we're ready to go?" 

Jim decided that there really wasn't much else to be done right now except wait for Izzy to finish what he was doing and look for something to do in the meantime. He began prowling around their campsite, hoping to find a distraction, while Kokuawamon clunked along behind him, peering under bushes and rocks. 

*_Still looking for that thing,_* Jim thought, with a mental sigh. *_What in the world could mean so much to him?_* 

"Aha!" he said suddenly. "This looks promising." 

"What?" said Kokuwamon, leaning over for a better look. "It looks just like mud to me." 

It seemed that the rain had fallen on this forest as well, leaving behind a large mud puddle. However, wind and sun had done their work, drying the water away and leaving only a broad patch of smooth brown mud. 

"It's good enough," Jim answered. "Just watch." 

Kokuwamon watched curiously as his friend picked up a stick and began poking little holes in the mud, making a ten-by-ten grid of dots. The boy considered a moment, then drew a line connecting two of the dots and offered the stick to Kokuwamon. 

"Your turn, Koku," he said. 

"Koku?" The robot-mon's eyes blinked off and on. "Where did that come from?" 

"It's a nickname," said Jim. "People give them to their friends - especially if they have long names. I mean, look at Izzy! His real name is Koushiro Izumi, and who wants to say that all the time?" 

"So now I get a new name," said Kokuwamon thoughtfully. "That's interesting. Okay, I guess it's good." 

"Hey, I let you call me JimHyumon!" 

"Isn't that what you are?" 

"Well, I _guess_, but..." 

"Right. You're my JimHyumon, and I'm your Digimon. That's how it works," said Kokuwamon. "But I guess I can be a Koku if you want. I don't think anyone's given me a nickname before. I kind of like it. So, what's with the stick?" 

"It's a game," Jim explained. "It's called 'Dots.' We take turns connecting dots together to try to make boxes. When you make a box, you mark it with your initial, and you get another turn. The winner is the one that makes the most boxes. I usually play on a piece of paper, but a mud puddle works." 

"Oh, okay," said Koku. He accepted the stick, and the two quickly became involved in the game. 

No one bothered to look up in the trees. If they had, they would have seen that someone was watching them - or, more specifically, watching Jim and Kokuwamon. Puppetmon was taking his work seriously, or at least as seriously as he knew how. He knew he _could_ lure the metal 'mon away from his friends, but only as long as he was alone. He had to talk to Kokuwamon alone, and to do that, he'd need the Digidestined to be away, or asleep, or anywhere that they might not come bursting into the picture and blow him to kindling wood. Since the Digidestined were all awake at the moment and didn't look like they were inclined to go anywhere for a while, Puppemon had to content himself to wait and watch. He didn't much care for what he was seeing. 

Puppetmon, like the other three Dark Masters, had known Machine Dramon since the day he'd hatched as an innocent little Choromon, and had watched him grow up into a single-minded fighting machine, totally loyal to Piedmon. He had always been so serious, no sense of play at all, and never socializing with anyone. Puppetmon had never known another creature that took so little pleasure out of life, and now here he was, playing games in the mud and letting humans call him by silly pet names! It was ridiculous! And yet... 

*_He looks like he's having more fun than me,_* thought Puppemon, watching Kokuwamon and Jim get into a friendly argument over whether it was fair for a computer to be playing games of strategy. *_That's not fair! This is _my_ forest. Nobody here should be having fun if I don't say so!_* 

Meanwhile, the other Digidestined were watching Izzy and his computer. The boy had produced something like a map, speckled with little dots that represented the Digidestined. It was a strange-looking map; it appeared that a quarter of the world had simply fallen away, leaving nothing but an indistinct void. 

"We're here," said Izzy unnecessarily, pointing at the dots. "This empty space is where Metal Seadramon's part of the world used to be. Here's Spiral Mountain." 

"And what's all this?" asked Matt, waving at the area the dots were occupying. 

"No idea," Izzy replied. 

"Oh, I know, I know!" Mimi squeaked, waving her hand excitedly. 

"You do?" asked Tai, surprised. 

"Yeah!" said Mimi, excited at actually knowing something no one else did. "Piximon told us while we were in the caves. Each of the Dark Masters has his own part of the world. He said Puppetmon owned the forests, so this must be where he hangs out." 

"Cool," said Tai. "If we can deal with something as big and ugly as Metal Seadramon, we should be able to handle that wimpy little thing." 

"You're one to talk," said Gatomon. "You didn't have to fight with the thing." 

"Well, we're not going to fight with him today," said Joe, staring up at the sky. "It's going to be getting dark pretty fast, here in the forest. Look, the sun's already going down." 

"It is?" asked Mimi, dismayed. "But we just found it!" 

"I am kinda tired," said Kari. "It's been a long day." 

"Yeah, it sure has," Tai agreed. "What do you say we just camp out here? It seems pretty secure." 

"Yeah, I think we've earned a break," Sora agreed. 

Everyone looked at Joe, who shrugged and said, "It's a good as any... and I guess after taking out a Dark Master, we deserve to relax a while... but we'd better post a guard, just in case." 

The other Digidestined agreed that this was a good idea, and Mimi volunteered to take the first watch ("I'm going to have nightmares after dealing with all those Numemon!") and everyone else began wandering around, finishing up their evening meals and trying to find a reasonably dry and comfortable patch of ground on which to spend the night. Jim, having finished his game with Kokuwamon and been beaten soundly at it, went to join his brother. 

"How come they asked you whether they should stay here or not?" he asked. "I thought Tai was the leader around here." 

Joe shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, Tai's our leader, but I think he's figured out by now that some of us are better at deciding other things..." 

"He's not telling you the real reason," Gomamon piped up. "They just wanted to make sure Joe wasn't going to complain about having to stay here. If even Joe can't complain about it, it must be a good idea." 

Jim laughed. "Boy, do I know that!" 

"Well, I have to complain. It's what I do," said Joe. "If I don't look for problems, who will? I'm the Digidestined of Reliability. I've got to ask the tough questions and try to keep everyone out of trouble. You want optimism, go to TK." 

"Because he has the Crest of Hope, right?" Jim queried. "I still don't quite get all this Crest business. Where do you get them? How come I don't have one?" 

"I guess it's just because you haven't found one yet," answered Joe. "Ours were hidden in all kinds of weird places, remember? Mimi's was inside a cactus, of all weird things... and mine was under a soccer goal. They all represent different qualities, and when if you live up to them, it activates the Crests and lets your Digimon go to Ultimate." 

"In other words, Kokuwamon's gone as far as he can go without a Crest," said Jim, looking speculatively at his Digimon. "Fun. Not only have I got to fight monsters, but I've got to prove I'm virtuous at the same time." 

"Well, there is one little thing," Joe replied. "As far as we know, the Crests don't work without a Tag, and, well... there were only seven in the box, so as far as I know... you haven't got one." 

Jim seemed to consider that one. "You know, Joe, you were right." 

"I was? About what?" 

"I would have been better off talking to TK." 

"Hey, I'm just telling it like it is!" Joe protested. "Or... actually, I'm just guessing. None of us have ever had a Crest with no Tag before, so we don't know what would happen then, and Kari's Crest came with the Tag already attached. Yours might be the same way." 

"Or maybe I don't have a Crest at all," Jim muttered. 

"Of course you do," said Joe. "You're Digidestined, aren't you? They wouldn't have left you out." 

"I guess," Joe replied. He looked back at Kokuwamon, who had returned to his customary pastime, searching through the bushes and leaves in a fruitless search for the unnamed and unknown object. "You know, I'm really starting to worry about him. He doesn't talk to me about it, but I can tell he's really getting upset over not having that thing around. It's like he's obsessed or something. He wasn't like this when I first met him - he barely seemed to miss the whatever-it- is. Now he's hunting for it every spare second. It's like he can't help himself. It's a little creepy." 

"Hmm..." said Joe. "You know, I just thought of something. Kari said that when Gatomon was separated from her, Gatomon used to be the same way, always waiting and searching for something she couldn't remember. Call Kokuwamon over here, Jim, I've got an idea." 

"Okay... Hey, Koku! Can you come over here a minute? Joe wants a word with you." 

"Sure," said Kokuwamon. He dropped the bit of wood he'd been inspecting and clanked over to join the Kido brothers. "What's up?" 

"I thought I might have an idea about this thing you're looking for," said Joe. "I think I might have one kind of like it. Did it look a little like this?" 

He reached under his shirt and took out the Tag that held the glinting Crest of Reliability. As soon as he saw it, his eyes lit up so brightly Jim was surprised the bulbs didn't break. 

"That's it!" he yelped. "That's what I'm looking for! It was one of those!" 

"There you go!" said Joe, grinning at his brother. "You _do_ have a Crest, and this little guy's been trying to find it for you." 

"Well, that's a relief," said Jim, grinning back. "Don't worry, Koku. If its out there, we'll find it... or it'll find us. Isn't that what yours did?" 

Joe nodded. "It'll turn up, probably whenever we need it most. That seems to be the way things work around here... anyway, I'm bushed. Dodging crazed crabs and angry sea serpents really takes it out of a guy. Come on, Gomamon. Let's go see if we can find somewhere to sleep that doesn't have mud in it." 

"I like mud," said Gomamon. 

"Fine, then you can sleep in it, but as for me..." 

The two of them wandered off, arguing quietly so as not to disturb the others. The sun had slipped out of sight, and the forest was slowly filling with ever-deepening shadows. The only source of light was a small campfire. The youngest of the Digidestined seemed to have fallen asleep already, and the others were settling down for the night. Jim decided the best thing to do would be to collect some dry leaves and make a bed of his own. 

"I'm going to hit the sack," he informed Kokuwamon. "How about you? Ready to get some sleep?" 

Kokuwamon shook his head. "Robots don't need sleep. I think I want to help Mimi keep watch." 

"You'll run your batteries down," Jim cautioned. 

"It'll be okay," said Kokuwamon. "I'll charge up at the tree before we leave tomorrow." 

"Well... suit yourself," answered Jim reluctantly. "I'd really feel better if you'd get some rest, though." 

Kokuwamon seemed to consider, his eye-lights blinking on and off. "Okay. If you really want me to, I will." 

"Good. I'm not letting you run yourself down for no good reason," said Jim. 

The two of them gathered a heap of dry leaves and made a sort of nest for Jim to sleep in, and he curled up in the center of it with his partner leaning against his back. For a while, Jim fidgeted; the leaves were itchy, and the ground was still faintly damp and chilly from the rain. At last, though, he settled into stillness. Kokuwamon was quiet a while, too, his lights off, his motor still. For a while, the camp was silent but for the crackling of the fire. Tai mumbled something in his sleep about soccer and subsided. Gabumon snored faintly. Mimi, half-hypnotized by the silence and the warm, dancing fire, nodded off and dropped into slumber. Moments passed with no movement but quiet breathing and the twitching paws of sleeping animals. Then, with a soft whine of gears, Kokuwamon got up again and began creeping as carefully as he could toward the edge of the camp. 

"I'm sorry, JimHyumon," he said in his quietest voice, and he slipped into the shadows. 

Deep down, he had hoped that he could forget the problem of his missing possession. He had to admit, he had become deeply fond of his human friend, and he would have preferred to have nothing come between him. He had thought that perhaps just knowing the name and form of what he had lost would settle his mind a bit. Instead, it had simply made him that much more desperate to have it back. He could remember it now, faintly but surely. There had been a time in his life when the Tag had never been far from his side. It had been his treasure, his only joy, and the sight of something so like and yet unlike it had awoken an ache deep inside. He _had_ to have it back; he could never rest easy until he had it again. As time went by, the discomfort became sharper. Much as he hated to leave his friend behind, he knew he had to find it, and soon, or he just might go crazy. 

But where was he going to look? The forest stretched out in all directions, all of it looking the same in the darkness. The faint glow of his eyes did nothing to illuminate his surroundings; something as small as a Tag could hide anywhere and he'd never see it. He didn't even think this was the place it was supposed to be, but he had to look. Almost despairingly, he went about his methodical search. 

There was a movement in the darkness, and he looked up, ready for anything. What he saw was another Digimon, not much larger than himself, leaning against a tree and watching him thoughtfully. 

"Who are you?" asked Kokuwamon. 

"I'm Puppetmon," the other Digimon answered. "I've been looking for you." 

Kokuwamon was suspicious. "Why?" 

"Because I want to help you," came the answer. "You do need help, don't you?" 

"How would you know?" Kokuwamon demanded. "You don't know anything about me." 

"Of course I do!" Puppetmon replied. "Come on! We're old pals; I've known you all your life." 

"That's what Metal Seadramon said." 

Puppetmon shrugged. "Oh, well. Seadramon will say anything. But you can trust me." 

"How do I know that?" Kokuwamon asked. "I really don't remember you at all. How can I know you really are trustworthy?" 

"Because I'm going to help you," Puppemon replied. "You want to know where your Tag is, don't you?" 

Kokuwamon's eyes lit up. "You know where it is? Can you tell me?" 

"Of course I can! You think I came out here in the middle of the night for nothing?" Puppemon replied. "Not only do I know where it is, I can take you straight to it. It'll be back in your hands by morning, and your buddy will never know you were gone." 

"Really?" asked Kokuwamon. "You wouldn't be kidding me, would you?" 

"Why would I do that?" asked Puppetmon, putting on his most innocent expression. "But if you really don't trust me, I understand, you not being able to remember and all. If you don't want to look for it, I'll just go home and wait for you to change your mind." He turned around and began walking off into the shadows. 

"Hey, wait!" said Kokuwamon, clanking after him. 

"What?" 

"If you really do know... and it won't take that long... I guess it wouldn't hurt to just look." 

Puppemon grinned. "I knew you'd see reason. Here," he said, tossing Kokuwamon what appeared to be a thin red rope. "It'll be faster if you hold on to this." 

"Huh?" said Kokuwamon, blinking his lights in confusion. 

In the next instant, Puppetmon had bounded into the air, and Kokuwamon, clinging to his strings, was pulled along like the tail of a kite. Up they went, ten - twenty - thirty - forty feet, landing in the branches of a huge tree, then bouncing straight up into the star-spangled night sky. Kokuwamon hung on for dear life, fearing that at any moment the string would break and send him tumbling to the ground, and expecting at the very least to be smashed into the ground when they landed. Then they dropped down through the treetops again, rattling through leaves and twigs, touched lightly on the earth, and rose back into the air as if weightless. Kokuwamon turned his head, watching the retreating ground. 

"What's your problem?" asked Puppetmon. "You aren't afraid of heights, are you?" 

"No, just falling from them." 

"You aren't gonna fall. What, you think I'm gonna drop you or something? Don't be such a scaredy-bug. When you're a Mega Digimon, you don't have to anything - including gravity." 

"You're a Mega?" asked Kokuwamon, surprised. "You don't _look_ - I mean, I'm not trying to be rude, but-" 

"Yeah, I'm a Mega," said Puppetmon, sounding irritated. "So were you, up until a couple of days ago. You got in a nasty accident, though, and I guess it knocked all your memories out." 

Boink! They hit the top of what looked like a manor house, and Kokuwamon caught a brief glimpse of what looked like a number of plant Digimon having a party in the front yard. All of them stopped what they were doing to see what had collided with the house, and then scurried inside as they caught sight of Puppetmon. 

"My place," he said. "They're not supposed to be doing that. I'll teach 'em a lesson when I get home." 

"Are those your friends?" asked Kokuwamon, catching a last glimpse of the creatures hurrying into the manor. 

"Them? Nah," said Puppetmon. "I don't have time for friends." 

"Why not?" 

"Whaddaya mean, why not? I just don't, that's all. I've got better things to do." 

"Like what?" 

"Like... like... Well, it's none of your business." 

"I thought you said we were friends." 

"Huh," said Puppetmon. "Well, maybe that was stretching things a bit. We're more like... business associates. I don't have any friends, and neither do you." 

"I do so!" 

"Well, you didn't when I knew you, that's for sure." 

"JimHyumon's my friend," said Kokuwamon. "I didn't even know I was lonely until I met him. He helped me digivolve." 

"You can digivolve without him," Puppetmon replied. "You did it before, remember? All the way up to Mega." 

"What are you acting like that for?" 

"Like what?" 

"Like you've got something against me and Jim being friends," Kokuwamon answered. "You act like you're jealous or something." 

"Who, me? Jealous? Come _on._ Why would I be jealous?" 

"Because I've got friends and you don't." 

"Humph. Like I'd want one," muttered Puppetmon. "Where am I gonna get a friend, anyway? Nobody wants to be friends with me." 

"Maybe if you weren't such a sourpuss," Kokuwamon muttered. "You'd better lighten up a little. People like you a lot better if you're nice to them." 

"Well, I don't want to be nice." 

"Then you're not going to have any friends, are you?" 

"Who said I wanted 'em?" Puppetmon snapped. "You'd better mind your own business. I didn't have to be this nice to you, you know... Ah, here's our stop." 

He touched down on a patch of bare ground in front of what appeared to be a cave. Against the black of the sky, Kokuwamon could see a darker patch, a tall tapering shape like a pointing finger, and at its very peak was what appeared in the darkness to be a round cloud. Kokuwamon got only a moment to stare at it before Puppetmon dragged him into the cave. 

"This is where you want to be," he said. "Just keep on following it until you get to the end. You'll find what you're looking for." 

"Do I have to go in alone?" asked Kokuwamon, peering into the blackness. It was impossible to see anything beyond the mouth of the cave. 

"It's your Tag, isn't it?" Puppetmon answered. "Besides, I'm getting annoyed with you. Just go on in, get it, and get out. I'll be waiting here for you." 

Kokuwamon hesitated. Something about the dark cavern made him uncomfortable, something more than the darkness, but even so, something else was telling him that this was the right place. He could almost see the Tag in his mind, shining like a beacon. He took a few paces into the cave, and, when nothing bad happened, he took a few more. Then, pulling together all his resolve, he marched determinedly into the shadows. Puppetmon stood at the entrance for a while to make sure he didn't change his mind. When he didn't, the puppet turned and darted back into the forest. 

Not knowing that he had been abandoned, Kokuwamon pushed doggedly forward. His glowing eyes lit the narrow tunnel just enough that he could see the grey outlines of rocks, and he managed not to trip too many times, but other than that, he had no idea where he was going. The only sure thing in his mind was that he was getting closer to his goal, and the thought filled him with a surge of joy... and, for the first time, a hint of fear. Fear? Why? What had he to be afraid of? 

Suddenly, up ahead, there was a twinkle of light, and Kokuwamon stared. Only a few feet away, a golden glimmer hung suspended in midair, not quite close enough to reach. With a cry of excitement, Kokuwamon leaped forward to grab it... and something pulled it away. 

"What the...?" Koku began, looking around, but he could see nothing. 

Then he could see something, and he pulled away as his optical sensors were suddenly overloaded by a brilliant, garish light that splashed across the walls like paint. Blinking to clear his vision, Kokuwamon stared. Standing in front of him was a person - something like and yet unlike a human, dressed in outlandish clothing that would have almost been funny if the look in its eyes hadn't been so patently evil. Kokuwamon found himself wanting to run, to turn and get as far away from this thing as possible. He didn't know who or what it was, but something deep inside told him that the two of them had met before and the experience had been one he should be glad he couldn't remember. 

"Well, well, well," said Piedmon, giving his wayward servant an icy smile. "My dear little traitor... welcome home." 

~*~

Jim slowly opened his eyes, blinking away the blur of sleep and trying to get his bearings. He'd been having an odd dream. In it, he'd been watching a clown juggle knifes, and as he'd turned his back on it, it had taken one of them and pressed it to his backbone. Now, awake, he could still feel the pricking against his skin and realized that he'd turned over in his sleep and ended up lying on a twig. He squirmed, trying to get comfortable again, but it was no good. With most of a night's sleep behind him, it was hard to settle down enough to go back to sleep. Now that he was awake, he realized he was thirsty, too. At last he sat up, stretched, and looked around. It was early in the morning, with the sun just barely risen - he couldn't have told it was morning if he hadn't been able to hear the morning noises of unseen forest creatures. He could see the rest of the Digidestined still curled up on the ground, sound asleep, their Digimon settled at their sides. He smiled, thinking how peaceful they looked, how fortunate they all were to have such good friends. Then reality struck. 

Moments later, Tai found himself being shaking roughly awake. He rolled over with a sleepy moan and saw Jim looking down at him, his expression frantic. 

"What is it?" he mumbled. 

"It's Kokuwamon! He's gone!" Jim shouted. "I just woke up and looked around, and he was gone!" 

"So what?" muttered Tai. "He probably just had a call of nature. He'll be back." 

"He's a machine, Tai, he doesn't have calls of nature," answered Jim tensely. "He's gone - I know he is! He keeps wandering off looking for that Tag thing... it just got to much for him. He's gone off to look for it. I've lost him." 

"Have you looked for him?" asked Tai reasonably. 

"Of course I've looked for him! I'm not stupid. I went to high school! I took calculus! I can find the area under the curve! I can find the sine and the cosine! I just can't find my Digimon!" 

"Okay, okay, just quit panicking!" 

"I'm not panicking!" 

"You're panicking," said Sora, "and you're waking the rest of us up. What happened?" 

"Kokuwamon's wandered off somewhere, and Jim's scared he's lost," Tai explained, dragging himself out of his makeshift bed. Sleep time was obviously over. 

"He is," Jim insisted. "I can almost feel it. He's out there alone, somewhere... I've got to find him - he's in danger..." 

"You're not going to go look for him now," said Tai. 

"But I have to!" Jim protested. "Don't you get it? My partner is in trouble! Do you really think I'm going to sit down and do nothing?" 

"No, but you're not going to go wandering off into the woods by yourself, either," Tai replied. Seeing the look on Jim's face, he added, "And don't you argue with me, either!" 

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Jim snapped. 

"I'm the leader of the Digidestined, that's who," answered Tai. "I've also been doing this longer than you. We all have. Face it, we know what we're doing better than you do, so if you don't want to maybe get eaten by a Kuwagamon or something, you'll listen to us when we tell you things. And right now, I'm saying that it would be dangerous for you to go out there on your own with no protection at all. You won't do Kokuwamon any good if you go and get yourself killed. Understand?" 

"I..." Pausing on that word, Jim deflated. "I understand. Sorry, Tai, I didn't mean to yell. I'm just so worried." 

Tai gave him a reassuring smile. "I understand. I know I'd be going nuts if something happened to Agumon! Shoot, I'd probably be carrying on worse than you are. But we're a team, Jim. We don't go and do things on our own, we do them together. That's how we win. Just wait for the rest of us to get up and get organized, and then we'll _all_ find Kokuwamon. Okay?" 

"All right," said Jim. "Let's just hurry, okay?" 

"Sure thing," Tai replied. "Don't worry. He couldn't have gone far. We'll find Kokuwamon for you in no time." 

Jim nodded. "I'm sure you're right," he said... but deep down inside, he wasn't sure at all. 

~*~

Far away, tucked away in his manor house, Puppetmon was not waking up. He had never fallen asleep properly. He was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying to sift through a jumble of thoughts. The Kokuwamon he'd talked to tonight in no way resembled the creature he had known while it had undergone its training in Piedmon's castle. That Kokuwamon had been a beaten, silent creature, cringing before its superiors and bullying any weaker creatures it found. Of course, he hadn't stayed that way long. Under Piedmon's intensive training, it had quickly grown into a mechanical terror, utterly obedient to the one who had raised it and willingly destroying anything else that came before it. Machine Dramon had never been happy, had laughed, had never enjoyed anything, even the destruction it wrought. Puppetmon had never seen anything so completely emotionless - a cold, emotionless killing machine. 

Now that creature was gone, and in its place was something completely different: a spunky little character who played games in the mud and wasn't afraid to talk back to strange Mega Digimon. He'd committed himself to a Digidestined - had proven he was willing to fight, maybe even die for a human kid in glasses. Was that what he meant when he talked about this friendship stuff? 

No, that was dumb, thought Puppetmon irritably. And yet, just thinking about it brought back memories of the old days, a long, long time ago, when he'd still been just a Rookie. He'd had playmates back then, a whole village full of Mushroomon and Floramon. Life had been so much easier back then, with nothing to think about but making sure he had something to eat and a comfortable place to sleep, and the rest of life had been fun and games. Even back then, he'd always been the most powerful, the most cunning, the most skilled. It didn't matter the game - he always won. That had been everything to him: playing, winning, and moving on to the next game, searching for something new to challenge him. It got to the point where no one would dare contest him, knowing that he would only beat them mercilessly. Instead, they avoided him, leaving him to take out his frustrations on whatever wandering Digimon might pass by. Then something new happened: he Digivolved to Champion. Suddenly, he wasn't just an annoyance to his peers, he was a danger. If he had beaten them all at their games, what couldn't he do now that he was so much more powerful than the rest of them? They had banded together and driven him out of the village to wander alone, looking for something to alleviate his boredom. Then Piedmon appeared... 

"_Where are you going?_" 

"_I don't know. Nowhere, I guess..._" 

"_I understand you've been looking for games to play... a true challenge._" 

"_Yeah? So?_" 

"_I see potential in you. Why don't you let me train you? With my help, you can become so much greater than you are now that there can be no comparison. Your toys will be the lives of Digimon, and the entire Digital World will be your plaything..._" 

He hadn't thought he'd ever get a better offer than that, so he had gone along with it. True to his word, Piedmon had taught him to harness the powers of a Mega and had given him a sizeable chunk of the world to do as he would with. Now here he was, so high at the top of the game that there was no competition left, nothing to do that he hadn't done a thousand times before... that, and jump when Piedmon said jump, which wasn't much fun at all. Face it, he told himself, for all his power, he was still nothing but one of Piedmon's pawns. He had everything he'd asked for and nothing he wanted. He could do anything now, except, it seemed, make friends. 

*_Or can I?_* he wondered. *_It's something I've never done before. It wouldn't be boring, anyway. Of course, Piedmon's gonna be ticked, but it's not like he doesn't deserve it. He's never done me any good. Nothing's gotten better for me, since I met him - if anything, it's gotten worse. This is the first time in my life I've stayed up all night worrying. Maybe Kokuwamon's got the right idea, after all..._* 

Except, of course, that if everything had gone the way Piedmon had planned it, Kokuwamon was probably having a hard time right now. Perhaps the first move he made in this new game should be to reverse that situation. Giving Piedmon trouble would definitely be fun. In fact, the more he thought about the idea, the more he liked it. Of course, to make that happen, he was going to have to win the trust of the Digidestined, which would be a complicated task if ever there was one. It would definitely require all his cleverness to make it happen. 

*_Maybe this is the challenge I've been looking for,_* he thought. 

He got up and went to the window, looking out at the forest. The sun was rising now, giving a golden cast to the treetops and turning the black sky to misty greys and golds. The Digidestined would be waking up soon and realizing that a member of their party had vanished. They would want some answers soon, and there was only one person in the forest who could provide them. Puppetmon nodded, his mind made up. 

*_It's time to find out._* 

~*~

The Digidestined were all gathered around Izzy, trying to peer over each other's shoulders, while the Digimon on the ground tried to keep their paws, tails, claws, or roots from being stepped on as their partners jostled for position. Izzy did his best to ignore all of them, even though he privately thought that they'd be steaming up his computer screen if they breathed any closer to it. He frowned at the screen, staring at the readouts. 

"What have you got for us, Izzy?" asked Tai. 

"Nothing, nothing, and more nothing," Izzy replied. "I've tried, but I can't get a lock on him at all. It's as if he's just dropped off the face of the world." 

"I knew it!" exclaimed Jim. "I knew something had happened to him, and you didn't believe me!" 

"Quiet!" said Izzy. "I haven't tried everything yet. Just give me a minute. I might still be able to find something. The Digital World's just a big place to find one little Digimon in." 

"This is hopeless," Jim said, turning and walking away. "We're never going to find him at this rate! You've been looking for him for almost an hour, and we're still right where we started." 

"If you've got any better ideas, I'd like to hear them," said Izzy testily. "I'm doing all I can, Jim. Just be patient." 

Jim sighed and sat down on a log, propping his chin in his hands. "It's really hard to be patient. I just feel like we're spinning our wheels and going nowhere." 

"He's right, you know," said a new voice. "You're never going to find him like that." 

Seventeen heads snapped around in unison to look for the source of the voice. Seeing that he had their attention, Puppetmon swung down out of the tree he'd been and landed in the middle of their campsite. 

"What are you doing here?" asked Matt, scowling at him. 

"It's my forest," Puppetmon replied. 

"You're up to no good," Mimi accused. "I don't know what it is, but I know you are." 

"No, I'm not!" said Puppetmon, shying away as he saw all the Digimon shooting him dangerous looks. "I don't want to mess with you guys! After what you did to Metal Seadramon, I didn't even want to get near you... I wouldn't have messed with you at all if Piedmon hadn't ordered it." 

"Piedmon," Tai repeated. "He's your leader, right? I don't see what could be so scary about him. Sounds like some kind of dessert to me." 

"Man, you don't know what you're talking about!" Puppetmon replied. "Believe me, the guy's crazy! _I_ have nightmares about him!" 

"So what are you doing talking to us?" Joe demanded. 

"Maybe I'm getting tired of him pushing me around all the time," answered Puppetmon. "I'm not the fighting type. Me, I like to take it easy, play games, have a good time. Working for Piedmon is no fun at all. And... I had a talk with Kokuwamon last night, and he got me thinking. Made me think maybe, _maybe_ I've got my priorities wrong." 

"You've seen Kokuwamon?" asked Jim. "Where is he? You know, don't you?" 

"Don't get all excited!" Puppetmon said. "I haven't got him, okay? I can tell you where he is, but it's not going to do you a lot of good. See, he's gone to Piedmon." 

"What?" exclaimed several voices. "Why?" 

"Because he belongs to Piedmon," he answered. "Or the Tag does. That's the same thing, isn't it?" 

"You're lying," said Jim. "Kokuwamon's my Digimon, and he's no spy! He'd never work for Piedmon." 

"Spy? Who said he was a spy? I never said he was a spy, I said he belongs to Piedmon. He doesn't even know it," Puppetmon replied. "Don't you think it's funny that the same day you blow up a great big ugly machine Digimon, a little baby machine Digimon shows up that can't remember any further back than the day you fought Machine Dramon?" 

"I never noticed," said Jim. "I wasn't there when they fought him..." 

"Hold it, hold it," Tai interrupted. "This is just getting crazy. You aren't trying to tell me that the cute little 'mon that's been following Jim around - that' Jim's partner is a - a Dark Master?" 

"Bingo!" said Puppetmon. 

"No way," said Kari. "You're making it up." 

"I am not!" Puppetmon protested. "Look, would you like it better if I told you the whole story from the beginning? I was there from the start; I can tell you the whole thing." 

"Well..." said Tai, looking around. He could see the others were curious, if cautiously so. He had to admit, he was feeling a bit curious himself. "All right. But you'd better make it good if you want us to believe you." 

"It'll be good," said Puppetmon. "It all began years and years ago... probably before I was hatched. Even back then, Piedmon was a Mega. Some people think he was just born that way. I dunno. All I know is, he was powerful, and he had ambitions. He wanted the DigiWorld for himself, and he'd do whatever it took to get it. He started getting together followers - Devimon, Etemon, Myotismon - all kinds of uglies, but he wanted three partners to help him rule over all of them. The old legends say that the Digital World is held togther by the power of four Mega Digimon who control the earth, water, wind, and fire. If he brought together four Virus Megas, he thought he could override that power and take it for himself. He rules the castle in the Air himself. Out of the ocean, he took Metal Seadramon to rule the Water. He found me and trained me to rule the Earth. But he needed someone else to rule over the aspects of Fire, and he couldn't find anyone who suited him... so he waited. 

"Meanwhile, your old buddy Gennai and a few of his friends had figured out what we were up to, and they wanted to put a stop to it. They chose nine kids - that's you guys - who had seen Digimon and believed in them, and they created nine Digi-Eggs that would hatch into your partners. They also designed nine Digivices and nine Crests to help you guys with the digivolving thing, but before they could finish, Piedmon brought his army in and busted things up. Gennai put up a good fight, I'll say that much - hijacked a Mechanorimon and took off with what he could salvage. He got most of the eggs and their Crests and carried them away to File Island, him 'em so even Piedmon couldn't find them. One of the eggs got lost on Server somewhere... I think that was you," Puppetmon said, nodding to Gatomon. "But one of the eggs wasn't ready yet. They hadn't finished making the Crest and binding everything down like it should be, so it was still in the work station. Piedmon found the silver egg and the Tag and decided to keep them. 

"See, the Crest was never finished - it's blank. There's power there, but nothing to focus it, so anyone can use it if they want to bad enough. All Piedmon had to do was finish the binding and he'd have himself a Digimon he could raise any which way he wanted. First he thought he'd nab a human somewhere and bind the Crest to them, but he decided he didn't want to put that much trust in anyone. Then he thought he'd bind it to himself, but he found out that if he did that, it would work both ways - he'd be bound to it, too, and that meant anyone who got hold of it would be able to use it to control him. You can bet he didn't like that. So instead, he looped it back to Kokuwamon. As long as Kokuwamon's separated from that Tag and that Crest, he can never be comfortable, and the longer they're apart, the worse it gets. Piedmon used to punish him by taking it away from him. So Kokuwamon never got any choice but to do as Piedmon said. Piedmon raised him up to Mega level and made him ruler of the city in the desert... up until you guys found him and blasted him. Now he's forgotten everything except that he needs that Crest back, and it's led him straight to Piedmon." 

There was quiet for a while. Then Joe ventured, "You know, I hate to say it, but that almost made sense." 

"It does explain a lot about how Kokuwamon's been behaving," said Izzy. 

"So... he just left? Just like that?" asked Jim. 

"Well... he did have a little help." 

"So you're saying that you were the one that led him away, huh?" said Jim. "And now you're coming back being all friendly and saying you want to help?" 

"I do!" Puppetmon insisted. "The whole time we were traveling, all Kokuwamon wanted to talk about was you - how great it is that he finally has a friend. Let me tell you, I've never met such a miserable Digimon as Machine Dramon was. Now he's different. Whatever he's got, it's better than anything Piedmon has to offer. I want to know what it is." 

There was a pause, as everyone looked at Puppetmon, at Jim, and at each other, wondering what was going to happen now. Matt thoughtfully reached for his Crest and studied it. 

"I think he's telling the truth," he said. "Let's give him a chance." 

Puppetmon nodded. "I'm not asking much. If just one of you trusts me, I can help you." 

"What are you going to do?" asked Sora. "Can you bring Kokuwamon back?" 

"Me? No way. Piedmon would know what I was up to and chop me into chopsticks before I'd taken two steps," Puppetmon replied. "Right now, the only one who's got even a chance of bringing Kokuwamon back is him." 

"Me?" Jim said. 

"Right. You're his partner. You're the only thing that's kept him away from Piedmon for this long. Now he's back under Piedmon's influence again. If anyone else tried to take him back, Piedmon would make him attack, and he wouldn't be able to stop himself. You're the only one who has a chance." 

"Are you sure the rest of us can't come along?" asked TK. "I don't want to be left behind!" 

"Nah, kid, you don't want to go to Piedmon's castle," Puppetmon answered, shuddering. "It'll be hard enough sneaking one Digidestined in, but to take all nine of you... no way. We'd be caught and we'd all be in trouble. You don't know what kind of nasties he's got up there. Vilemon by the truckload... demons... things I don't even want to think about. Don't worry, I'll go along and protect your buddy. You guys need to keep your heads down for a while." 

"You want us to just sit here?" Tai exclaimed. 

"No, I want you to get out of here," answered Puppetmon. "When I get to Piedmon's castle, I intend to break all my links with him. That means this place is going to go up in smoke pretty soon. You guys need to head for safer territory." 

"Is there _anywhere_ safe in this crazy place?" Mimi asked. 

"Multitask City," Puppetmon replied. "That's the place Machine Dramon used to rule. Since he's not there at the moment, it should be pretty safe. Just don't irritate the Tankmon and you'll be fine." 

"Multitask City," Izzy repeated, clicking the keys on his computer. "Got it. That's almost due south from here. We should be able to find it with no problems... assuming we're going. Are we going?" 

"What do you think, guys?" asked Tai. "How much do we trust this guy?" 

"Me personally?" Joe replied. "I think this is about the craziest thing we've ever even considered doing, letting a Dark Master tell us what to do... but since he's the only one who knows where Kokuwamon is and what to do if someone finds him, I guess we don't have a choice." 

"He's right," said Jim. "There is no choice. Kokuwamon's my partner, and I'm going to try to save him, whatever the cost might be." 

"Well, if you're willing to take the risk, I guess we are too," Tai replied. "Multitask City it is. Where should we meet up later?" 

Izzy checked his map. "Looks like there's a cathedral near the edge of the city. That shouldn't be hard to find. How about you meet us there?" 

"Can do," Puppetmon replied. "Now, getting to Piedmon's castle might be harder. Lemme see if I've got something for that. Hold on a minute." 

He turned around and jumped into the trees again. There was a rustling overhead, and then he dropped back to the ground, carrying a sack. He tipped it over, dumping its contents onto the ground. Inside was a large folded piece of paper and a number of small dolls, each representing a different Digidestined or Digimon. 

"Here we go," he said, unfolding the paper. "Piedmon made these for me. Pretty cool, huh?" 

"What are they?" Kari asked, coming closer to look. The paper, she could see, was a map, showing the Digital World in rough but accurate detail. 

"Fast transportation," Puppetmon replied. "Too bad it only works inside my forest, or we could just zap your pal back here and be done with it." 

"How can you transport anyone with that thing?" asked Izzy. "It's just a map and a bunch of toys." 

"It's magic!" Puppetmon replied. 

"No such thing," Izzy scoffed. "All magic is just trickery and technology." 

"Oh, yeah?" answered Puppetmon. "Too bad I can't hang around to hear you explain this. You ready, whatever your name is?" 

"Jim," answered Jim. "And I am. I think." 

"Good enough," Puppetmon replied. "See you guys in Multitask City!" 

With that, he picked up two dolls, a miniature Puppetmon and a dark-haired boy in glasses, and set them on the edge of the paper. As soon as they touched it, there was a blink of light, and he and Jim disappeared.


	5. The Blank Crest

**

The Blank Crest

**

**

By: SilvorMoon

**

High over the Digital World soared a GigaDramon. Of all the Digimon one could possibly want to meet, this was not one of them. It was a nasty looking thing, a long, writhing, snakelike creature covered in sick-looking purple scales and heavy dark armor. Right now, it was flapping ponderously along with its great steel wings, watching the landscape with wicked golden eyes. 

From this altitude, it could see a fair portion of the Digital World, or what was left of it. The horizon seemed to start a little sooner than it usually did, and beyond it was an empty black stretch of nowhere that melded indistinctly with the sky. All that had once been MetalSeadramon's territory, but now the golden dragon was gone. Gigadramon had heard about that, and been mildly disturbed, but as long as his master's property was safely guarded, he couldn't be too worried. 

Now, though, the Gearmon guards at the border between the Forest of Gears and Machinedramon's deserts had reported seeing the Digidested hurrying through that territory on what looked like a direct path toward Multitask City. Gigadramon didn't like this at all. He knew his duty was to defend his master's interests above all else, but Machinedramon was missing, and there were whispers that he'd already been defeated by the Digidestined and they were coming to take over his holdings as their own. Gigadramon was worried, so he was going to find someone he knew would have the answers. He banked around a cloud, flapped his wings mightily before he could lose too much altitude, and set his sights on the Castle in the Air. 

Meanwhile, Piedmon had secluded himself in his throne room - not that it was a difficult thing to do. The only people who had ever entered his throne room were himself and his three cohorts, but with one deleted and the other who-knew-where, there was no one to bother him as he dealt with the rogue third member of the party. 

Kokuwamon was quiet now, slumped in a heap in the corner, looking more like a pile of spare parts than a former terror of the world. He had gotten to this point after a half-hour of remedial training, the same ruthless discipline that had raised him into a single-minded killing machine once. It was more difficult now, and Piedmon frowned a bit. He hadn't reckoned on just how much of a bond Kokuwamon and his human friend had formed in such a short amount of time. He had thought that by making the bindings directly to the Crest and not the intermediary human being, the bond between him and the boy would have been dissolved, but here was Kokuwamon, protesting over and over again that he'd rather die than do anything that would hurt this "JimHyumon." 

"Of all the foolery," said Piedmon with quiet disbelief, staring at the pathetic little machine. "Equating some flesh-and-blood human with something as great and noble as a Digimon. I am going to have to program this foolishness out of him. His circuits have obviously been corrupted." 

Kokuwamon, obviously, took no notice of him. After his recapture by the Master of Dark Masters, he'd had his past recounted for him vividly, event by event. The process of getting his memory back, especially _those_ memories had been too much for him, and he'd shut himself down in self-defense. He would wake up soon, though. Piedmon would make sure of that, and training would resume again until all thoughts of this brief aberration had been deleted from his thoughts once and for all. 

But first, Piedmon was going to have to deal with the Gigadramon. It flew in through a window with a great booming rush of steel wings, coming as close to giving Piedmon a fright as anything had in eons. While the dark clown was still collecting his wits, the Gigadramon made a clattery landing on the stone floor and coiled itself up on the ground, bowing until the tip of its nose was only inches from the floor. 

"What are _you_ doing _here_?" Piedmon snapped. "You are interrupting important work." 

"I'm sorry, Most Majestic One," said the Gigadramon in its grating voice. "I have urgent news." 

"Then shouldn't you have sent word to your superior before you come barging in on me?" asked Piedmon impatiently. 

"I would have, Your Highness," answered the Gigadramon, trying to cringe even lower onto the floor - a ridiculous gesture for a creature with the proportions of a school bus, "but I normally answer directly to Lord Machinedramon, and no one has seen him in days." 

"Ah, yes," Piedmon replied. "Machinedramon is currently out for repairs. He will be returned to you shortly. 

"Thank you. That's good to know," answered Gigadramon, who, like any good subordinate, hated to be separated from his master. "But there's still a problem. My master's spies have seen the Digidestined trying to get to Multitask City. There is no one to organize the guards, and the machines won't act without orders. We're completely defenseless, and there are rumors that they're going to try to take over while our master is away." 

"Hm," said Piedmon, trying to reconcile his brain with the fact that one of his underling's underlings had brought up a valid point. "I see what you mean... oh, what's your name? Gigadramon. It is true that the City is unstable while Machinedramon isn't nearby. Someone will need to watch over it in his absence. And since you seem to have a modicum of intelligence..." 

He produced one of his swords and gave it a flourish. Gigadramon was surprised to see a ball of light rise up out of what appeared to be a perfectly ordinary Kokuwamon sleeping peacefully in a corner. The light hovered in the air briefly, then floated lazily towards Gigadramon and landed lightly in the middle of his forehead and disappeared. 

"Congratulations," said Piedmon, in a most uncongratulatory tone. "You're now the ruler of Multitask City - at least until Machinedramon comes back." 

"Thank you, my lord!" 

"Just try not to get yourself blown up," Piedmon replied. "Now, what are you waiting for? Get out of here! Whatever you do, don't let the Digidestined make any more trouble, understand? Find a way to destroy them and you will be rewarded, but if you ruin this I'm not sure what I will do to you, but rest assured that it will be lingering, painful, and irreversible. Now get out." 

Gigidramon knew a dismissal when he heard one. He made a fast slither toward the window and flapped noisily away as fast as his wings could carry him. Piedmon sighed, shaking his head. Just look what things were coming to, when he had to make deals with Ultimates! It was undignified to have to stoop so low, and Piedmon would rather be almost anything than undignified. As a matter of fact, the only thing he liked less than being undignified was being beaten, and if he was willingly bending his dignity, it was a sure sign of how out of hand things were getting. 

"Confounded Digidestined," he snarled. "How could a handful of human children make things go wrong so fast?" 

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He should not let himself get excited over such trivialities. He hadn't lost yet - nowhere near it. After all, these children had given him a trump card to play without even realizing it. Didn't he have one of their partners on his side? Once he got Kokuwamon's memory fully reinstalled, the creature wouldn't think of anything but obeying Piedmon, and the Digidestined would never destroy someone they cared about. They'd die first, so of course, Machinedramon would kill them. 

Still, they had come a lot further than he'd expected of them, and it would not do to underestimate them again. They had certainly left their mark on Machinedramon, and MetalSeadramon wouldn't be back for quite some time now. And Puppetmon... where _was_ Puppetmon? The ruler of the forest was one of the most incorrigible loud-mouths Piedmon knew. He should be here making a fuss over his successful capture of Kokuwamon and hinting for rewards. Instead, he was... nowhere. Piedmon found the silence ominous, and he frowned. Somewhere, something was wrong, and he was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion what it might be. 

~*~

Jim had always believed that he was far too mature to do anything as childish as ask someone, "Are we there yet?" This little adventure, though, was thoroughly testing his resolve. He'd been walking for what felt like hours behind Puppetmon, wandering through a series of twisty dark caves that all looked the same, and he was fighting against the panicky feeling that they were trapped in an endless loop. 

"Are you sure you know where we are?" he asked. 

"Sure I'm sure," said Puppetmon casually, hopping over a heap of rocks. "Don't complain; this is the easy part." 

"Great. That's really comforting." 

"Hey, don't get sarcastic with me, kid. I can out-sarcasm anyone you wanna mention." 

"Well, it's not exactly encouraging to know whatever I'm walking to is going to make this look easy," answered Jim, stumbling over a rough spot in the floor. "Where _are_ we, anyway?" 

"We're... kinda going through the back door," answered Puppetmon thoughtfully. "We could have tried climbing up Spiral Mountain on the outside, but that would have been just asking to have a million Vilemon dumped on our heads. This maze runs all through the insides of Spiral mountain and has exits all over the Digital World. I figured it was our best bet. Piedmon figures anything that wanders in here uninvited will just wander around until it starves, so he doesn't guard it much." 

"Lovely." 

Puppetmon stood on top of a rock, carefully balanced on one foot. "The other Dark Masters knew how to follow it from their headquarters to the Castle, but I think the only two people who know the whole thing are Piedmon and me." 

"How come you know your way around so well?" 

He hopped down off the rock. "It was just something I had to prove I could do, that's all... hang on, I think I see it." 

"See what?" asked Jim, but the 'mon was already hurrying up ahead. Jim shrugged and followed along behind. 

When he caught up to Puppetmon again, he found himself standing at what appeared to be a dead end, a large flattish rock leaning against the wall like a caveman's door. 

"This is it," said Puppetmon. "The gateway to the Castle in the Air. Impressive, don't you think?" 

"Yeah, sure," answered Jim, still staring at the rock. "How are we going to move this?" 

"You aren't," Puppetmon replied. "It'll move, though. It recognizes me. Watch." 

He reached into a pocket and took out a small, roughly carved wooden gear, which he pressed against the smooth side of the rock. There was a faint shimmer of green light, and the rock obligingly slid aside, revealing a large mahogany door inlaid with gold designs of gears and plants. Puppetmon grinned at Jim's startled expression as he put the gear away again and opened the door. 

They found themselves standing in what looked like a large stairwell of some sort, a place where three hallways and a spiral staircase had all bumped into each other and decided to linger sociably a while. It had to have been something like that to have created this place, because it certainly couldn't have been planned; all the doors were different sizes, the walls of the room were set at odd angles, and the staircase looked more like it had dropped in out of the sky than been built there. 

"This is where we split up for a bit," said Puppetmon. 

"Huh?" Jim repeated. "Wait a minute, when you say, 'split up,' you don't mean... _split up,_ do you?" 

"What are you? Scared?" asked Puppetmon. 

"Well, you're the one who keeps telling me about all the nasty things Piedmon keeps in this place. What makes you think I'm going to go wandering around here alone?" 

"'Cause we don't have any other choice," Puppetmon replied. "Look. If you want Piedmon's power broken, it's got to be broken completely. That means all the powers of his followers have to be broken, too, which means I've got to break all my ties with Piedmon. I can only do that in one particular room in this palace, and he'll know when it happens, so there's no point in trying to get anything else accomplished once I've done that, because he'll have the whole palace up in arms. And you're going to have to get past Piedmon to get your buddy back, and you know he's not going to like having you here, and _that_ will get everything shaken up, too. So the only chance to get everything done is if we do what we've gotta do at the same time. Understand?" 

"I think so. I think," answered Jim. "So... how am I supposed to get Kokuwamon back?" 

"Any way you can," Puppetmon replied. He began bounding towards the stairs. "If I know Piedmon, he's probably in his throne room. I'll meet you there." 

"How do I get to the throne room?" Jim called after him. 

"Oh, that's easy. Just always take the largest door, and that'll get you there," Puppemon said. Then he scampered up the steps and disappeared. 

"Well, I guess that's that," said Jim, shrugging a bit. He looked around the room and began walking toward the largest door. It was a very slow walk. 

*_I'm scared stiff,_* he thought vaguely, trying to keep his feet moving when everything in him was screaming that this was a very bad idea. *_I have a right to be, I guess... No, that's stupid, I don't have any right to be scared. Kokuwamon's always defended me against Digimon that are bigger and tougher than he is, and I have to do the same for him. He's the best friend I've ever had, and I refuse to let anyone take him away from me, not even this Piedmon character._* 

With that thought firmly in mind, he marched as bravely as he could through the shadowed hallways. 

Meanwhile, Puppetmon was hurrying as fast as he could up the stairs and through the winding tunnels of Piedmon's castle. This castle had been designed by Piedmon for his own use, and as such, had been made so it was not easily accessible to anyone who was not Piedmon. Machinedramon or MetalSeadramon never could have made it through some of the narrow corridors, wouldn't have been clever enough to find the hidden doors and secret traps. However, Puppetmon was small, nimble, and above all, clever, and he had never yet encountered the obstacle that he couldn't get through, over, under, or around. He hopscotched across a tiled floor, keeping an eye out for anything that might be a trap. He stepped on one just for fun, somersaulting out of the way just an instant before a series of swords launched themselves out of one side of the hall and embedded themselves against the far wall. He carefully picked the lock on a small, insignificant-looking door and crawled through the narrow opening beyond. He made a running leap and jumped across a chasm thirty feet wide, landing lightly on the other side. Puppetmon laughed; this was more fun than he'd had in ages. 

However, as he moved onward, the traps began to become more frequent, and he began to realize this game was in earnest. Finally, after much difficulty and a few close shaves, he found what he was looking for: a tiny back staircase in one of the far reaches of Piedmon's castle. He felt a small wave of relief; this part of the castle was strictly off-limits, and he hadn't even been sure he'd be able to find his way here. He'd certainly never been here before, but the view out the window was enough to tell him he was in the right place, standing at the bottom of the highest and most inaccessible tower in the whole Castle. Of course it would be the place where Piedmon kept his objects of greatest power. Moving carefully, on the alert for anything resembling a trap or alarm, Puppetmon went up the stairs. 

At the top of the stairs, there was a tiny room, just barely large enough to hold one person and a small square table. On the table was a miniature model of the Digital World, wrought in minute detail, right down to the individual trees and buildings. Little statues stood on various parts of the map: a Piedmon on Spiral Mountain, a Puppetmon in the forests, and a heap of chipped ceramics that had once been MetalSeadramon. It seemed to have gone to pieces after the golden serpent's demise. 

*_I hope it doesn't work both ways,_* Puppetmon thought. He hadn't really considered that idea before, and didn't really feel like considering it now. *_Well, might as well finish what I've started._* 

With that, he picked up the miniature of himself and threw it as hard as he could at the floor. There was a snap, louder than could be attributed to the breaking figurine, and a series of sparks rushed across the map. Puppetmon watched for a moment, making sure he wasn't going to go up in smoke like the broken statue seemed to be doing. When he didn't, he hurried out of the room. Piedmon was going to be angry about this, and Puppetmon didn't want to be around when it happened. 

~*~

"That miserable traitor," Piedmon muttered, as he sensed the shift in the balance of power. "I knew he was up to something. I knew I never should have trusted a Digimon who's only interest in life is playing games. ... You, stay there a minute. I have something I need to check up on." 

Kokuwamon nodded dully and sat back down in his corner. The light in his eyes dimmed to near-invisibility. Piedmon hurried away, taking the fastest route he knew to the highest tower. 

Moments after he had gone, Jim arrived, looking around warily for any sign of trouble. He didn't see any immediately present, though he didn't see much sign of Kokuwamon, either. All he saw was a very large round room with a domed ceiling, empty except for a throne on a pedestal, with a huge telescope mounted next to it, and a large hole in the floor. Other than that, the room seemed to be empty... No, it _wasn't_ empty. There was a very small shiny something sitting on one side of the room, half-hidden by a pillar. It was shaped like - it was - Kokuwamon. Jim almost laughed with relief. He'd found his partner and never even had to face Piedmon at all! He rushed across the room, his footsteps echoing on the stone floor. 

"Kokuwamon!" he called. "Hey, are you okay?" 

Kokuwamon's eyes lit up again, and Jim jumped back in surprise. They were glowing a brilliant ruby red. 

~*~

The Digidestined hurried across the desert the best ways they could. Those whose partners had wings rode through the sky, while others rode across the hot sands. All of them were concerned with trying to get away from the forest as fast as possible. 

Somewhere behind them came a rushing sound, like a furious wind or the crash of a wave. Matt, riding on Garurumon's back, looked over his shoulder just in time to see a cloud of dark data bits flying up into the sky and vanishing. 

"There it goes!" he called. 

"Looks like we made it out right on time," Izzy replied from his perch on Kabuterimon's shoulders. "A few more minutes and we'd have been goners." 

"I don't even want to think about it," said Mimi. She and Palmon were sharing a perch on one of Birdramon's claws. 

"Well, we're out of the woods now," said Ikkakumon as he lumbered across the desert. 

"Don't make jokes," said Joe. "I'm in no mood for them." 

"You're never in the mood for jokes," said Tai. "Come on, lighten up. Your brother's going to be fine. Right now, we've got to worry about getting to the cathedral in one piece so he can find us again." 

"Do you think that'll be hard?" asked Kari. She was gliding along above her brother's head, cradled safely in Angewomon's arms. 

Tai sighed. "Is anything ever easy?" 

"Quit it, Tai," said Joe. "You're starting to sound like me." 

After a few minutes fast travel, they were able to see a dark, prickly mass against the sky. Wreaths of smoke hung over it, making it appear to be some other world entirely against the bright golden sand. 

"Is that it?" asked TK. "I don't like it very much." 

Izzy glanced at his computer. "That's got to be it. Let's take it down and walk a while. I don't think we could ever get in there flying without something seeing us." 

The rest of the group agreed that this was probably a good idea. They found a smooth stretch of highway where they could land easily, and then all the 'mons shifted back to their most comfortable stages so they could accompany their partners on the long walk. After a hot, dusty time, they neared the suburbs of the city, rows of vacant houses and front yards devoid of grass. The little group stepped off the road and began making their way between the buildings, trying to keep to the shadows. 

"Take it carefully, gang," said Tai. "Remember, Puppetmon said there'd be guards. No telling what will happen if we get their attention." 

At that moment, there was a whining noise, and they turned their heads just in time to see a house a short distance behind them suddenly go up in flames. 

"_That_ might happen," said Joe. "Forget secrecy! Let's run for it!" 

They ran, nearly falling over each other as they fled, while small buildings blew up all around them, raining down debris. Whatever was chasing them either didn't have very good aim or was simply having a good time harrying them. Tai cast a glance over his shoulder and managed to see a dark, dragon-like creature swooping across the sky. 

"Okay, anybody want to tell me what that thing is before it shoots me?" asked Tai, just barely avoiding a piece of falling lumber. 

"It's a Gigadramon," answered Tentomon. "It's an Ultimate Virus type - not very coordinated, but very persistent." 

"And Puppetmon said we didn't have anything to worry about!" Izzy complained. "Do you think he could have double-crossed us?" 

"I wouldn't put it past him," said Joe. He winced as a shingle hit him on the head. 

The houses abruptly stopped, giving way to rows and rows of skyscrapers, all jammed together to make dozens of twisty little alleyways. The Digidestined ducked for cover, rushing into the nearest building in hopes that the Gigadramon might miss them. While everyone kept their heads down, Tai peered out a window to see if he could see anything. A dark shadow rolled past and vanished. He gave a sigh of relief. 

"All clear now," he informed his friends. "Not that it does us much good." 

Sora nodded. "We still have to find our way to the cathedral. Anyone got any suggestions?" 

Izzy checked his map. "I think I can find the way if we can just get out of this building without getting blown up. Hm..." 

There was a booming noise from somewhere outside. The building shivered, and the lights flickered a bit. It seemed Gigadramon was tired of searching for them, and was now trying to destroy them by caving the buildings down on their heads. 

"Think fast!" Tai told him. "Not to put any pressure on you or anything, but..." 

"All right, how's this," said Izzy. "We obviously can't go aboveground and let Gigadramon hunt us like rabbits, but he can't go belowground." 

"Belowground?" asked Mimi, looking worried. "But... there's nothing much under the city except basements... and subways... and the sewers." 

"Exactly," said Izzy. 

Jyou sighed. "Great. More sewers. We get all the scenic routes." 

"Yeah, we're just lucky," Matt agreed. "What do you think, guys? I'm up for it." 

"Me too," added Tai. 

There was a chorus of general agreement, though not necessarily a happy one. Tai looked out the window again. 

"No sign of him," he said. "Now's our chance. Let's make a run for it." 

They scampered out the door again and into the streets. After a brief search, they found a manhole cover, which Tai and Matt quickly pried open. 

"Okay, Mimi," said Tai, "you first." 

She looked aghast. "Why me?" 

"Because you're the one who's most likely to argue," answered Matt. 

Mimi stared at the dark hole. "But it's dark and yucky down there!" 

"For pity's sakes, Mimi!" cried Tai, rolling his eyes. "Do you want to keep your feet clean or do you want to be eaten by a dragon?" 

Mimi stared at the hole, obviously thinking very hard. Joe gave a sigh of exasperation. 

"I can't watch this," he said. "Here." 

Much to the surprise of everyone, he scooped Mimi up and jumped down the hole. There was a bump and a squelch, and everyone peered into the darkness of the manhole. They could just barely see Joe sitting in a puddle with Mimi sitting on top of him. 

"Owch," he said vaguely. "I get the feeling I shouldn't have done that." 

"Thanks, Joe," said Mimi, getting up and dusting herself off. "That wasn't as bad as I thought I would be." 

TK stared, wide-eyed. "That looked like fun! Me next! Me next!" 

There was a distant explosion, and Tai said, "I don't care who goes next, just _go!_" 

One by one, the group dropped down into the tunnel, urged on by the sound of crashes and booms. Once they were all safely inside, they set off, following the glow of Izzy's computer screen. 

Aboveground, the Gigadramon, unaware that his quarry had fled, continued blasting at the buildings. He looked down at them with satisfaction. Most of this section of the city had been demolished completely, leaving nothing but heaps of rubble behind. He soared back to the base with a smug grin. The Digidestined never could have survived. He would call out the troops to dig up their mangled bodies to bring back to Piedmon, and he would be greatly rewarded. With that pleasant thought in mind, he flapped off into the smoky sky. 

~*~

Puppetmon was giggling madly, unable to restrain himself. He always felt this way after getting away with something, and this was perhaps the biggest mischief he'd ever pulled off in his whole long career. It felt good to be done with Piedmon, better even than he'd thought it would. He hadn't realized how good it would feel to be free, with no constraints left on him at all, able to do whatever he pleased and not worry about responsibilities and making decisions. It was worth helping the Digidestined for that. It was worth even more not to ever have to look at Piedmon's self-assured smiling face again, not have to hear him gloating over how great he was... 

The thought froze, half-formed, as Puppetmon realized he'd jumped the gun. The hallway he'd been dancing down was suddenly blocked by a most unwelcome personage. Piedmon gave his renegade follower a thin smile. 

"Well," he said. "Might I ask just what you are doing here?" 

Puppetmon made some swift mental calculations and came up with a course of action he liked. For once, Piedmon didn't hold all the cards. 

"I'm resigning," he said. "I just wanted to leave you a little something to remember me by." 

"Is that so?" answered Piedmon. "Well, I accept your resignation. I do this, you understand, on the grounds that you are going to expire very shortly afterwards." 

"Maybe," Puppetmon answered, grinning insolently. 

"Maybe?" Piedmon repeated, taken aback. Never in his career had he ever told anyone that he was going to exterminate them and get a "Maybe" in response. Most people generally accepted that when Piedmon said they were going to die, there was no "Maybe" about it. "What do you mean, _maybe_?" 

"I mean, maybe you're going to kill me," he answered, still grinning that "I know something you don't know" grin. 

"Why wouldn't I kill you?" 

"Well, it all depends on your priorities," Puppetmon answered casually. "See, I brought a friend with me when I came here. You know, that Jim fella, the one who's been hanging out with Kokuwamon. He's downstairs right now getting his partner back. Now, I know you can kill me, but I also know you made me so powerful that you won't be able to do that without a long fight, and by the time you finish killing me, he and Kokuwamon will be long gone. So it all comes down to whether you'd rather have me dead or MachineDramon in captivity." 

He grinned at Piedmon, and Piedmon stared back with fury glowing in his red eyes. There was a frozen moment. Piedmon threw a knife at Puppetmon, but he had been expecting it and jumped out of the way. 

"Well?" he said. "What'll it be?" 

Piedmon snarled; he was in a bind, and he knew it. 

"I'll deal with you later," he said. "Don't forget that. I will hunt you down and take you apart splinter by splinter, no matter what it takes." And he turned and hurried down the hall on his way to the throne room. 

"Whew!" said Puppetmon, wiping his brow. "That was a little _too_ close. Good thing I'm as good an actor as he thinks he is. Oh, well, better go catch up to Jim before he gets himself hurt or something." 

Then he, too, went scampering away. 

~*~

Jim stared at Kokuwamon as he slowly got up and came clanking towards him. He might have been new to this Digimon thing, but he had a feeling that glowing red eyes were a definite bad thing. 

"Kokuwamon, what are you doing?" asked Jim. "Don't you remember me?" 

"Intruder detected," said Kokuwamon in a monotone. "Intruders will be exterminated." 

"Hey, wait a second!" said Jim, hurriedly backing away. "I'm not an intruder! Kokuwamon, it's _me_!" 

"Intruders will be exterminated. _Spark Scissor!_" 

Jim yelped and dove out of the way as a bolt of electricity sizzled by. He hit the floor awkwardly and rolled, briefly dazed. Kokuwamon clanked slowly forward. 

"Stop it!" Jim shouted. "You can't do this to me! We're partners!" 

"Not anymore," said a voice. 

Jim turned toward the voice. Standing in the doorway was a vaguely humanoid thing in outlandish clothing, staring at him with red eyes that shimmered with malice. It was not what he'd been expecting from the monster who's name everyone seemed to speak in whispers of fright, but he had no doubt that this was the infamous Piedmon. 

"What do you mean, he's not my partner?" Jim demanded. At Piedmon's arrival, Kokuwamon had stopped his advance to watch the clown, and Jim thought he might as well prolong the diversion. 

"He's mine now," answered Piedmon smoothly, "as he always should have been. I'm the one who raised him to power. I'm the one who taught him everything he knows. I'm a better master for him than any human boy." 

"I never wanted to be his master," answered Jim. "I wanted to be his partner... and his friend. I taught him that." 

"Lovely," answered Piedmon. "Kokuwamon, is this boy telling the truth? Is he your friend? Does he mean anything to you at all?" 

"No recorded data on the subject," answered Kokuwamon mechanically. 

"Ah, I see," said Piedmon. "Obviously you two are very close." 

A flush of anger appeared on Jim's face. "You've done something to him! You made him forget." 

"I've reprogrammed him slightly, yes," answered Piedmon. "He's been reset to run at the minimal level. He won't remember anything until I'm ready for him to remember... and some things he'll never recall at all. Like you, for example." 

"I don't believe it," said Jim. "You can't make Kokuwamon forget me." 

"Oh? Let's find out," Piedmon replied. From out of nowhere, he produced a sparkling amulet that caught Jim's attention instantly - the Tag and Crest! "Kokuwamon, evolve!" 

There was a flash of light from the Crest, and an answering flash in the air around Kokuwamon. In a misty swirl of luminance, Kokuwamon suddenly became MechaNorimon. He stared down at Jim with malevolent red eyes. 

"MechaNorimon, this boy annoys me," said Piedmon. "Remove him." 

"Computed." MechaNorimon began to stomp towards Jim, who scrambled away. 

"Don't do it!" Jim begged. "Come on, MechaNorimon, snap out of it! You know me. We're friends." 

"That does not compute." 

"Listen to me! I'm your partner. We were born to protect each other. You're supposed to be with me, not him." 

"That does not compute. _Twin Beam!_" 

MechaNorimon shot a dual blast of light at Jim, and the boy couldn't dodge fast enough to avoid getting stung on the arm. The pain made him gasp, and he crumpled to the floor. 

"Oh, this is lovely," Piedmon was laughing from somewhere in the background. "More fun than destroying Puppetmon would have been any day. There's nothing like a little emotional agony, and you perform so well." 

Jim gritted his teeth and tried to drag himself to his feet, tears of pain that was only half from the wound beginning to spill down his face. 

"I'm not here to entertain you, Piedmon," he spat. "I'm here for my partner, and I'm not going unless he goes with me. You hear that, MechaNorimon? I'm not leaving without you!" 

"That does not compute." 

"Yes it does! You're my friend, the best I've ever had. I'll never let anything come between us. We're supposed to be together. Don't you know who I am? It's me - JimHyumon. Don't you remember?" 

MechaNorimon paused in mid-step. "Jim...Hyumon?" 

"Yeah, that's right!" said Jim. "I'm your JimHyumon, and you're my partner. That's how it works. You told me that, didn't you? It was just yesterday, when we were playing together. You told me I could call you Koku." 

"I remember..." 

"I _am_ your partner, Koku. You knew that when we first met, didn't you? You said that was when you digivolved to Kapurimon, to defend me from the Gearmon. You helped me find my friends. You remember my friends, don't you? Tai and Matt and my brother Joe and everyone. They're all waiting for you to come back." 

"That's right. I remember now! You were helping me look for the thing I lost." 

"We were," answered Jim. "And we've found it, too. Now all we have to do is go home." 

"Right," said MechaNorimon. He turned and glared at Piedmon. "I don't need you anymore. I want my Tag back so I can go with JimHyuman." 

Piedmon was staring, dumbfounded. "What - but this is - this is impossible!" 

"I would have said it's impossible to keep a Digidestined and his partner apart," answered Jim. "Now, hand over the Tag before this becomes a fight." 

"Are you picking a fight with me?" he answered. "A Champion and a human against the greatest Digimon to ever live? You're both out of your minds." 

That thought had crossed Jim's mind, too, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. The only thing in his mind at the moment was to get that Tag and get his partner away from this place, and he was not about to let anything, even impossibility, sway him from his course. 

"You might as well face it - you haven't got a chance," said Piedmon. "You haven't a chance of defeating me in battle, and your little friend will never be able to leave me completely as long as I have this." 

Piedmon held up the Tag dramatically. A red rope whipped in out of nowhere and tied itself tightly around the necklace, jerking it out of Piedmon's hands. Puppetmon reeled in his rope, looking pleased with himself. 

"Okay, we can go now," he said. 

"Good idea," Jyou replied. "MechaNorimon?" 

"You got it! 'Scuse me while I flip my lid." 

MechaNorimon opened his cockpit and helped Jim scramble inside. 

"Come on, Puppetmon!" Jim called. 

Puppetmon jumped down from his perch, just in time to avoid a dagger thrown by Piedmon, and made a dash for the cockpit. The lid flipped down, and the little group swooped out the window, leaving Piedmon to stand and fume. 

And fume he did. Never, in all his long career, had he ever been so thoroughly humiliated. He'd had everything right where it should be, and he'd lost it. Not only that, but he'd been made to look ridiculous. He wouldn't stand for it. He couldn't. Piedmon walked slowly up to his throne, sat down, and began plotting revenge. 

~*~

The door of the cathedral slowly opened, and Tai peeked inside. He wasn't sure what he was checking for. Maybe he wasn't checking for anything, really. He just had the feeling that cathedrals weren't places to just rush into. However, the place was serene and empty, so he pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked inside. 

"It's all clear," he said. His voice echoed and magnified against the walls and high arched ceilings. 

One by one, the other Digidestined tiptoed inside. This seemed to be a place for tiptoing; the floor was made of some polished stone that made footsteps reverberate, and there was a feeling of all-pervasive quiet, even of latent power. Stained glass windows filled the walls, their colors glowing softly. Kari was faintly reminded of her vision of the City of Light, and wondered what this place might have been before the Dark Masters had remade it. The Digidestined collapsed into the pews of the sanctuary in various states of shock and exhaustion. 

"We should be safe here for a while," Matt commented, looking around. "It doesn't feel like anyone ever comes here. The candles aren't even burnt." 

"We'll be safe long enough for Jim to come back," said Tai. He was studying the pictures in the stained glass windows. Some of them were nothing more than geometric designs, but a few featured what seemed to be picture stories of some sort. He thought he could distinguish stylize images of cities and Digimon and what appeared to be human people in white robes or long flowing gowns. 

"He's not coming back," said Joe dully. 

"What?" There was a general outcry. 

"I said, he's not coming back," Joe repeated. "Don't you see? We've been double crossed. Puppetmon sent us here so that dragon would eat us. Isn't that what you said?" 

"Well, we were really thinking of it as more of a possibility," Matt hedged. Joe ignored him. 

"We've been set up," he said. "He never meant to help Jim get Kokuwamon back. He took him straight to Piedmon. He's never coming back now." 

"Aw, c'mon, Joe," said Gomamon comfortingly. "You don't know that! Jim's a smart guy. He can take care of himself. Why, I bet right now he's..." Gomamon trailed off. "He's coming through the door." 

"Huh?" 

Everyone looked up. The door to the cathedral swung open, and Jim came in, followed closely by Puppetmon and Kokuwamon. 

"Hi, guys!" called Jim cheerfully. "Why's everybody staring at me? Am I late or something?" 

"You're alive!" Joe yelped. He catapulted himself forward, nearly tripping over Gomamon in the process, and ran to hug his brother. 

"Easy, easy!" Jim yelped. "I'm a little sore there!" 

Joe stepped back, surprised, and it was then that he noticed the scorched spot on Jim's shoulder where he'd been burned. "You're hurt! Are you okay?" 

"I think I'll live, but if you're still carrying the first aid kit..." 

"Oh, yeah. Hang on." 

Joe went to find his bag and the first aid kit, and while he was bandaging up Jim's injury, Jim and Puppetmon gave a brief explanation of what had gone on in Piedmon's castle. 

"Puppetmon was really pretty brave," said Jim, inspecting the job Joe had done with his first-aid. "I probably would have been skewered if he hadn't shown up at a good time." 

"I knew you were gonna need some help," Puppetmon replied. "You were pretty stupid to go messing with Piedmon on your own like that... I kinda admire you for it." 

"So... you really are on our side?" asked Joe, staring at Puppetmon. 

"Sure I am. Why wouldn't I be?" 

"So you really didn't know about the dragon?" asked Sora. 

"What dragon?" asked Puppetmon. 

"The Gigadramon," said Tai. "It was hunting us. You told us this city was safe, so when he turned up here waiting for us, we thought maybe..." 

"Well, I didn't know anything about any Gigadramons," answered Puppetmon. "Or maybe I did. Lemme think. Gigadramon, Gigadramon... Machinedramon used to have a servant who was a Gigadramon, but he was a real knucklehead. He couldn't find his own tail if someone drew him a map, so unless someone told him... Hm. Well, that makes sense." 

"What does?" asked Matt. 

"Well, d'you think Piedmon would just leave a whole quarter of the Digital World unguarded? I don't," answered Puppetmon. "I bet he got the first big tough ugly thing he could find and told it to sit out here and watch for you. Maybe..." He thought a moment. Then he snapped his fingers. "I knew something looked wrong!" 

"What?" asked everyone. 

"When I went to break my ties with Piedmon," he replied. "He had a map of the Digital World with statues of the Dark Masters guarding it, and I had to break my statue to break the link. But when I was in there, I noticed there wasn't a statue for Machinedramon anymore. I thought maybe it was because he's outta commission right now, but what if it's not? What if the statue is gone because he's not in charge right now?" 

"Can someone re-explain that so it makes sense to little kids?" asked TK. 

"I think I see what you're getting at," said Izzy. "The Dark Masters are bound to the Digital World. Remember how everything got reconfigured when we destroyed MetalSeadramon? I bet Piedmon didn't want Kokuwamon controlling anything until he knew he would obey him, so he turned this part of the Digital World over to someone who will. That also means we won't have to destroy Kokuwamon to take this part of the world back." 

"Good thing, too," said Jim. "We just have to destroy this Gigadramon character." 

"Not like that's going to be easy," Matt remarked. "Steel plated dragons don't seem like they'd have a lot of weaknesses." 

"They don't," said Puppetmon. 

"In that case, maybe you could use a little help." 

Everyone jumped. Forming in a beam of colored sunlight that fell through the stained glass windows was a cloud of sparkling lights. As they watched, the lights took on form and shape until Gennai himself was standing there. 

"Greetings, everyone," he said. "I see you've made your way to the cathedral. You picked a good hiding spot. This is a place of great positive energy. Even the Dark Masters could do little to change it." 

"What are you doing here?" asked Tai. "I really hope you weren't kidding about giving us help." 

"Of course not! I wouldn't joke about something as serious as that," Gennai replied. "Actually, I came to give your friend Jim his Crest." 

"But... I've already got my Crest," said Jim, taking it out for all to see. 

"You have the beginnings of a Crest," Gennai answered. "That Crest is unfinished. Now the job that was started eons ago will finally be completed. Give it here." 

Jim obeyed. Gennai solemnly took the Crest and studied it a moment. 

"I'll need some help with this," he said. "Kari, would you be so kind?" 

Kari nodded and stepped forward. They stood on either side of the gleaming stained glass window, facing each other. Then Gennai tossed the Tag and Crest into the air, and there was a burst of light. The Digidestined shielded their eyes from the brightness, but those who dared try to see through it swore afterwards that they saw, not an old man and a little girl, but a handsome young man in long white robes and a beautiful woman with a crown on her head. They were saying something, but it was hard to understand, something about life and power and light that slipped through their minds like water, with no trace of it remaining but leaving the hearer refreshed nonetheless. Then the moment was over, the light was only afternoon sunshine through a stained glass window, and there was only Gennai and Kari standing there, looking at the Crest. 

It was obvious something had been done to it, something that was more than just the fact that it was now hovering in midair. It was glowing with a light all its own, looking somehow cleaner, more polished... finished. 

"Take it," said Gennai. "It's yours now." 

Jim stepped forward and took it. It did nothing, just sit there and sparkle in his hands. It felt comfortably warm. On the Crest, where there had once been nothing, there was a collection of lines depicting an arrow pushing against some force. 

"You have proven yourself worthy to call yourself a Digidestined," said Gennai. "You have stood beside your partner and followed him wherever you had to go to be by his side, even when threatened by almost certain death. You've been a noble man in your life. You've stood by your family and your friends, stood up for what you believe is right, and followed your dreams. Therefore, it is my honor and duty to present to you the Crest of Dedication." 

Jim didn't know what to say, so he just bowed respectfully. He heard Joe mutter, "None of the rest of us got a speech," and a muffled whap that sounded as if Gomamon had whacked him with a flipper. 

Just then, there was a rumbling noise. A bit of plaster fell from the ceiling, and Gennai looked around worriedly. 

"Sounds like you're going to be fighting again," he said, "and I'm not much use in a fight. I'll see you all later. Goodbye!" 

He waved a brief goodbye and vanished into a swirl of multicolored light. 

"Some friend," Taichi muttered. 

"Well, he did at least leave us with something useful," said Jim, turning the Crest over in his hands. "This is really ours now, Koku. We really are partners now." 

"We were partners all along," Kokuwamon replied. "But a Crest is still useful, and I know just who to use it on!" 

There was another rumble outside, and Jim said, "I think you're right... Hey, guys, mind if we take this fight?" 

"It's all yours," answered Tai. "I think you deserve it... We'll be here in case you need someone to bail you out." 

"Thanks," he answered, grinning. "Okay, Koku, let's see what this thing can do!" 

He and Kokuwamon hurried out into the street again. 

"You know," said Matt, "on the other hand, seeing as how this place is going to go up in digital smoke if he wins, maybe we'd better be trying to get out of the city?" 

"I like that idea," said Mimi, listening to the explosions. "I like that idea a lot." 

"I don't," said Sora. 

"Why not?" asked Joe. "It sounds like a great idea to me." 

"Because," said Sora, "the ocean and the forest are already gone. Once this place is gone, there will only be one place left: Piedmon's place." 

Tai nodded. "And once we go there, we won't have much choice but to fight him. I hope we're ready." 

"We will be," said Kari. 

"If Kari says it, it's the truth," said Tai, only half joking. Everything he'd seen on this crazy trip had convinced him that his little sister had a lot more going for her than he'd ever realized. "Come on, gang. Let's get ready to run away some more... as if we needed any more practice." 

More concerned with speed than secrecy, they hurried out into the street. Just as they were doing so, something large and fast flew over their heads. Everyone ducked. 

"What was that? A low-flying jet?" asked Matt. 

"Hope it wasn't Gigadramon again," said Joe. 

"No isn't! Look!" called TK. "It's Jim!" 

"Huh?" 

Joe looked. The creature that had flown past them was a thing very like Gigadramon, but with a few notable differences. It had the same long, snakelike body, the same helmet and steel claws, but it wasn't the same. Instead of Gigadramon's clumsy metal wings, this one had billowing purple dragon's wings, and its scales were bright orange. There was a quality to it that seemed more complete than Gigadramon had been, as if this were the original to Gigadramon's poor copy. Jim was perched proudly on its head, gripping its horns. 

"Hi, guys!" he said. "I want you to meet my friend Mega Dramon!" 

"I'm impressed," said Tai. 

"I'm not," rumbled a voice. 

Gigadramon was on the scene, flapping down on them on his dull steel wings. He'd had a frustrating day - his newly-acquired minions had made a systematic search of the cave-in areas and come up with nothing, and a heat-scan of the city had shown that the Digidestined were all still alive, well, and moving about. Gigadramon was furious at being bilked of his prey, and fully intended to take out his frustration now. 

"There you are," rumbled Mega Dramon. "I've heard a few things about you. Thought you could move in on Machinedramon's territory, I heard." 

"I'm doing a perfectly good job taking care of this territory," said Gigadramon. "I'd like to see you do a better one." 

There was a low rumble of laughter. "I already have." 

"Huh?" 

"Just trust me on this one." 

"Well, I don't know what you're talking about," said Gigadramon. "All I know is, you're intruding in my space, and that means I have to destroy you!" 

"I'd like to see you try it! Bring it on!" 

Gigadramon responded with a roar and a dive, flashing his steel claws at Mega Dramon, who simply banked out of the way. Gigadramon flapped his wings awkwardly, trying to regain his altitude but finding himself weighed down, as always, by his armor. His opponent rose swiftly into the air, looking back at him contemptuously. 

"Kind of a klutz, isn't he?" Mega Dramon remarked. 

"Don't get too overconfident," said Jim. "He's still strong, so watch yourself!" 

"No problem!" said Mega Dramon - and swiftly dove out of the way again, just in time to avoid a spray of small missiles from Gigadramon. "Okay, maybe a small problem." 

"Come back here!" Gigadramon bellowed. "Come back and fight!" 

"Sure thing!" answered Mega Dramon. "Hold on tight, Jim!" 

With no more warning than that, Mega Dramon performed a loop-the-loop, twisting upside down in midair and reversing direction, shooting back at his enemy like a comet. 

"_Ultimate Slicer!_" 

He drove his flashing claws at Gigadramon... only to have them clang off. He swooped away again, bellowing pain and surprise. 

"Ow! What was that?" Jim yelped, jarred by the impact. 

"The darn thing's made of metal inside!" Mega Dramon complained. 

Sure enough, his claws had left a slash in the creature's skin, revealing a weird mesh of muscle and steel parts. The wound was trickling something that looked like machine oil. 

"Why you...!" Gigadramon snarled. "I'll teach you to treat me like that! _Genocide Gear!_" 

The air was filled with whirring missiles again, and Mega Dramon was forced to dodge as best he could, trying to protect his partner. A few of them struck anyway, bursting against his wings and tail, and he roared his pain. 

"Mega Dramon! Are you all right?" asked Jim. 

"I'll be fine," he answered. "Hang on. I'm setting you down. This is going to get ugly, and I'm not letting you get hurt." 

"I'm already hurt. I'll deal with it," Jim insisted. "I'm not leaving you now." 

"Fight back already!" Gigadramon growled. "Quit trying to protect that stupid human and fight me! _Guilty Claw!_" 

Gigadramon made a dive attack, and Mega Dramon, caught off-guard, couldn't move fast enough to avoid getting a long line scored across his tail. He retaliated by ramming a claw at Gigadramon's helmeted head, making it ring like a bell. 

"Never," he snarled, "insult - my - Hyumon!" 

"Who's going to make me?" Gigadramon retorted. 

"Is it safe to hurt him now, do you think?" asked Mega Dramon. 

Jim made a few mental calculations. "The others should be well away by now. Let him have it!" 

"You heard him!" Mega Dramon replied. "I hate to do this to you - well, not really. _Genocide Attack!_" 

A volley of missiles shot through the air, propelled from Mega Dramon's chest and wings. Gigadramon shrieked and tried to dodge, but his clumsy wings wouldn't let him. He mentally cursed them - and then instantly regretted doing so, as a missile struck its mark and separated them from him. He gave one final roar as he plummeted from the sky and slammed into the street, collapsing it into the tunnels below. There was a colossal crunch, and then a soft shimmer of purple-grey light as the Gigadramon faded away. 

"And that takes care of that!" said Mega Dramon. "Are we awesome or what?" 

"Totally awesome," Jim agreed. "Now, let's get out of here before this whole place is deleted!" 

"You got it!" 

The two of them raced over the landscape, out of the city and across the desert, retreating from the wall of flashing digital bits and the black emptiness that followed. Eventually, they saw in the distance a series of flashing lights that looked a great deal like Agumon shooting his Pepper Breath attack into the sky. Jim pointed it out, and Mega Dramon made a gentle dive into a shadowless, black and white world. Upon landing, he reverted to Kokuwamon, sending his partner on an ungainly tumble across the ground. The rest of the team hurried to check on the pair of them. 

"Are you two okay?" asked Matt. 

"I'll be fine as soon as everything stops spinning," answered Jim, but with a small grin to let them know he was teasing. 

"I'm okay," said Kokuwamon. "Just a little tired, that's all. That was more work than I thought it would be." 

"Well, I'm glad that's over," said Tai, flopping down against a tree. "I was getting really tired of all that running around! Sure hope Piedmon gives us a minute or two to catch our breaths." 

"You and me both," said Jim. "I met him, and I didn't like him. I would have been toast if I hadn't had some backup along... Thanks again, Puppetmon. I owe you one." 

"Aw, it was nothin'," he answered. "Most fun I've had in years! Piedmon had it coming to him... You shoulda seen the look on his face!" 

"Yeah, it was pretty funny," answered Jim, "but somehow... I don't think I'm going to be laughing for a while." 

"Me neither," said Kokuwamon. "Not for a long, long time." 

"You okay?" asked Jim, feeling a sudden stab of concern. For someone who'd just emerged victorious from a battle, Kokuwamon sounded a bit downcast. 

"Well... I just thought of something," he answered. "Can we talk about it? Somewhere else?" 

"Sure," said Jim, hauling himself to his feet again. "Excuse us, guys. We'll only be a minute." 

Jim and his partner walked off a short distance, putting a few of the realm's pale, skeletal trees between themselves and the rest of the team. Kokuwamon stopped after a while, sitting down against a fallen log, and Jim sat next to him. 

"So, what's on your mind?" he asked. 

"A lot of things," answered Kokuwamon. "We really are partners now, aren't we? Not just friends. Real partners. I can feel the change. It used to be that I always had this itch inside, something that told me I had to be near that Crest or I'd never be really happy. That's gone now. Everything's come clear for me now. I know I was meant to protect you." 

"And I'm here to protect you, too, you know," said Jim. "If only to talk you out of attacking things that are tougher than you... not like it usually works." 

"I can't help it! I'm used to being able to take on just about anything," answered Kokuwamon. "It's a tough habit to break. But Jim... I can remember now. Piedmon showed it all to me, and I know it's not just an illusion, because I _remember_. I remember stuff he didn't even show me - all kinds of things I did when I was under his control. I remember being MachineDramon..." He trailed off and shivered. 

"It's okay," said Jim soothingly. "That's all over now." 

"No, it's not," answered Kokuwamon. "Jim, Piedmon's more powerful than any of us were. Even when I was MachineDramon, I was afraid of him. Your friends are going to need all the help they can get, and when you're in trouble, I _am_ going to evolve. I'm going to have to be as strong as I can be if we're going to win against Piedmon, but... when I was MachineDramon, it was like... well, everything was black." 

"I don't quite get it." 

"I didn't care. I didn't feel anything. It's like I totally lost everything I was when I was MachineDramon, and I'm afraid to go that high again," he answered. "Do you know what they called MachineDramon? The Infinity Dragon. Once he got angry, nothing would ever stop him. He'd destroy everything in his path until he couldn't go on anymore. I'm afraid if I become him again, that will happen to me, and I won't be able to stop myself from hurting someone because I won't even be who I am anymore." 

He turned to look at his partner, and even though there wasn't anything in his face that could show emotion, Jim looked into his glowing eyes and saw something he'd never seen there before: fear. 

"I'm scared, Jim," he said quietly. "I know I'm going to digivolve, and I'm scared I'm going to hurt you." 

"You wouldn't do that," answered Jim. 

Kokuwamon gently tapped the bandage on his partner's arm. "Yes, I would." 

Jim didn't say anything. He let his gaze drop again. They were quiet for a moment. Then Kokuwamon spoke again. 

"Hey, Jim?" 

"Yeah?" 

"I'll do my best." 

"I know you will." 

"You've been a great friend. The only one I've ever had." 

"Don't talk like that," answered Jim. "I'll always be your friend. No matter what happens, you'll always be my partner." 

"Even if...?" 

"Yeah. Even if." 

"Thanks, Jim." 

Jim sighed and leaned back against the log, looking up at the sky. He'd never seen such a sky - the weird grey cast that didn't seem to have anything to do with clouds, but as if the air itself was smudged with darkness. He closed his eyes, shutting out the sight. He didn't want to see a sky like that, or this charcoal-drawing world... 

*_He's right,_* Jim thought. *_I don't think he'll have any choice but to evolve, and in a place like this, I think anything could be filled with darkness..._* 

They sat there, not looking at anything outside of themselves, not seeing the dark mist that was creeping hungrily towards them, pulling them gently and silently into the shadows. 


	6. Shadows Beyond Shadows

**

Shadows Beyond Shadows

**

**

By: SilvorMoon

**

A shadow crept slowly over the ground, a shadow that was cast by nothing and moved of its own will. It was vague and formless, spilling across the ground like water, darker and blacker than any normal shadow. It was too black, a black that could catch the eye and pull it forever into its infinite depths, into an abyss more complete than the emptiness of space because it was never broken by a single light. It slithered across the grey ground, moving steadily closer to a boy and a Digimon that leaned against a fallen tree, lapsed into thoughtful silence. The shadow tasted the air around the Digimon, relishing the fragments of darkness that already clung to him. It wrapped around them both in a cool cloud, gently lulling them into a sleep from which there would be no waking... 

"Hey, Jim!" shouted a voice. 

The fog evaporated as Jim looked up. Tai and Agumon were scampering over the grey earth, bright patches of moving colors against the still dark countryside. 

"There you are!" said Tai. "We were starting to wonder when you'd come back. Joe's starting to worry. Well, more than he usually worries, anyway." 

"Sorry about that," said Jim. "I guess we kind of dozed off or something." 

"Yeah, you two have had a rough day," Tai replied. "Hey, listen - Mimi and Palmon prowled around a bit and found some stuff that the 'mons say is edible. You two feel up for lunch, or whatever it is we're having this time of day? What time is it, anyway?" 

"Hard to say. I think it's..." Jim looked up at the sky, trying to get a feel for if it was even day or night. The sky was uniformly gray, with no trace of a sun at all. "...time to eat." 

Tai laughed. "Great! Come on!" 

He led Jim back to where the other Digidestined were resting. Matt and Gabumon had hauled together some fallen wood and lit a fire, which was now crackling fitfully in the middle of a circle of people, giving off as much smoke as warmth, though the wood itself was bone dry. Everyone huddled around it, drawing as much comfort from it as they could. Kari in particular seemed uncomfortable, staring into the flames with blank eyes, curled up with her chin in her hands. When Gatomon tried to hand her some of the food Mimi had brought, it took some prodding before she woke up enough to accept it. 

"Are you all right?" asked Mimi, kneeling next to the little girl. She'd become a bit protective of her since their adventure in the City of Shadows, and now she felt a pang of concern. There was something about that look in her eyes that seemed wrong... 

"I don't like it here," said Kari. "It's so dark..." 

"It's not that dark," said Koushiro. "Not really. Just sort of... gray." 

Kari shook her head. "It's not that. There's something here. Something bad. It's creeping around watching us..." She turned frightened eyes on Mimi. "It's trying to get me... I can feel it trying to get me..." 

"Nothing is trying to get you!" said Mimi. She sat down next to Kari and hugged her. "You're just frightened because it's so ugly and creepy here, but it'll be okay. We're all here for you. Don't you worry about a thing." 

Kari allowed herself to be comforted, cuddling into Mimi's arms while Gatomon settled on her lap and purred comfortingly. Gradually, the light came back into her eyes, and she smiled weakly. 

"Thanks," she said. "I needed that." 

"Any time," Mimi answered. 

Jim watched them out of the corner of his eye as he ate his own meal. Personally, he thought Kari was right - there was something wrong with this place, something more than the unnatural grayness, more even than the fact that it was ruled by the insane clown Digimon he'd met before. Piedmon had been frightening, but he hadn't given Jim this same sense of _wrongness_ that he felt now. Piedmon had been natural; he was bad, but there was no reason why he shouldn't exist in this crazy world. A few minutes ago, though, he'd had the feeling of slipping into something that was utterly anomalous, something that made his stomach twist in knots. He looked at the last of the unappetizing food he'd been given and set it aside. 

"Here, Gomamon," he said. "Want some extras? I'm not really hungry." 

"Sure!" the seal answered gleefully. 

"How come he gets favors?" asked Gabumon. 

"Because Jim's my brother," said Joe. "Hey, Jim, how are you holding up? You look thoughtful." 

"I am. I'm thinking about what we're going to have to do next, and I'm a little worried," Jim replied. "Well, okay, a lot worried... and that's supposed to be your job, little bro." 

"How scary can this Piedmon dude be?" asked Taichi. "Anything that sounds so much like a dessert can't be that bad, can he?" 

"Yeah, you've seen Piedmon," Matt said. "What's he like?" 

"I told you what he's like already," Puppetmon complained. "What more do you want?" 

"A second opinion?" Koushiro suggested. "The more we know, the less we'll be afraid, right?" 

"Not necessarily," said Sora. 

"I don't know what I can say about him," said Jim. "He... wasn't what I expected, that's for sure. I was expecting something more dangerous-looking, you know? But he didn't look scary, not in the sense where you think he's going to bite your arm off or something. The only thing about him was that he was carrying swords, and he had these red eyes. You could just look at them and tell he's crazy. He was enjoying watching us suffer." 

There was a moment of quiet. Then Tai said, "So, do you think we can take him?" 

"I don't know," said Jim. "It's not like I was fighting him; I was too busy with... other things," he finished, as Kokuwamon caught his eye. 

"Well, we'll be going in with a number advantage, anyway," said Koushiro. Two Megas, six Ultimates, and an extremely powerful Champion." 

"Three Megas," said Puppetmon, looking affronted. "Or don't I count?" 

"Might be four," said Kokuwamon quietly. "I went that far once. I might do it again." 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Jim. "You know we talked about this, and you said it might do more harm than good." 

"I have to protect you," he said. "If that's what it takes, then that's what it takes." 

"I wish you could evolve, Patamon," said TK. "You're so cool as Angemon - I bet your Ultimate is awesome!" 

"We'll work something out," said Tai, optimistic as always. "It's gonna be quite a fight, I can tell you that... Wish we didn't have to fight here, though. Kari's right - something about this place is starting to give me the willies." 

"You're not the only one," said Puppetmon. "I've been here before, and it was never as bad as this... Kinda reminds me of an old story I heard, a long time ago when I was just a hatchling..." 

"A story?" asked Mimi. 

"Like a _ghost_ story?" asked TK. "Tell it, tell it!" 

"It ain't exactly a ghost story," Puppetmon replied, "but if you really wanna hear it..." 

"Well, it's not like we have anything better to do," said Matt. 

"I wouldn't mind hearing a story," said Sora. "It might take our minds off of things for a while." 

"All right, all right," said Puppetmon. "Let's see if I can remember how this goes. It's been a long time. I haven't heard this one since I was a little Hatchling back at Primary Village. You all know about Primary Village, right?" 

TK nodded. "I went there with Patamon and played with the babies!" 

"Yeah, that sounds like fun. Anyway, back when I was first hatched, Elecmon used to tell us stories around the campfire at night. Most of the time they were happy stuff - you know, where the good guy goes out and makes friends and saves the world and all that junk, but sometimes he'd bring out this other one. It would scare us all... it even scared me pretty bad," he added with a creaky shudder. 

"What could scare you so much?" asked Kari. 

"Well, you know I wasn't so powerful then. I was just a little-bitty Yuramon, and it was late at night with the fire flashing..." He shook himself. "Anyway, you all know about how Digimon were created, right?" 

Everyone shook their heads. 

"You don't? And here I thought you guys were supposed to be experts or something," said Puppetmon. "Well, I guess I'll have to tell you. Digimon aren't born the same way you humans are. The first ones were formed out of pure data, and when they died, they got sent back to the Primordial Databank to be reprocessed and sent back as eggs to be born again. It went on that way for a long time, but then something weird started happening. Some of the new Hatchlings never evolved. Instead, they just faded away, and they were never reborn. Nobody ever found out what happened to them, but after a while, some rumors started about a Darkness, the shadow beyond shadows. They say it was so black that anyone who looked into it could never look out again, and would be pulled into it and lost, and it came after little Digimon who didn't digivolve. Do you have any idea what it's like to lie awake at night wondering whether you're going to get eaten by a killer shadow because you couldn't evolve?" 

"I can't say I've ever had quite _that_ worry," said Joe. 

"Yeah, well, anyway... It ain't just a legend. One of my little buddies got taken by the Darkness," said Puppetmon. "I think that was one of the reasons I was in such a hurry to get to Mega. I sure didn't want that thing to get _me_." 

"I heard that legend, once, I think," said Tentomon. "I'd always thought it was just a story." 

"Is there anything you _haven't_ heard of?" asked Izzy. 

"Well, _we're_ all safe from the Darkness," said Matt. "I mean, all our Digimon have evolved way beyond Hatchling, so they should be safe, right?" 

"I dunno," said Puppetmon. "I was only told it was Hatchlings, but sometimes... sometimes some of Piedmon's slaves, the critters he'd captured to do his work, would just disappear. He didn't kill 'em, and they never could have escaped their cells. They just vanished without a trace, with nothing left but shadows..." 

Mimi shivered. "Don't talk like that! Not _now_. It's creepy enough here as it is." 

"Sorry," said Puppetmon, looking sheepish. "Didn't mean to scare you. It's just an old legend, anyway. Who knows, maybe they really did escape. Maybe somebody just made it all up to keep us from being lazy or something." 

"That's probably what it was," said Tai. "Isn't that always why they come up with stories like that?" 

"I'm still not going to get any sleep tonight," Mimi said, pouting. 

"Try," Izzy advised. "We're going to need it. 

"Good idea," said Puppetmon, staring up at the sky. "It's gonna be nighttime, soon. You might want to think about settling down." 

"It can't be bedtime now. It's not even dark yet!" TK protested. 

"You really wanna see what this place looks like after dark?" he asked. 

A few people looked around at the already grey and gloomy landscape, and shivered. 

"Well, when you put it _that_ way," said Matt. 

"Goodnight, gang," said Tai, curling into a hollow in the sandy ground. "I'll see you all in the morning." 

"Who's going to take first watch?" asked Joe. "I am _not_ going to sleep until I know someone's watching." 

"Don't get your shorts in a knot, kid," said Puppetmon. "_I'll_ stand guard. I don't really need the sleep, anyway." 

"Must be nice, being a Mega Digimon," said Matt. "Wish I were one. Imagine not having to sleep if you didn't want to!" 

Puppetmon shrugged. "It has it's perks." 

"And its drawbacks," Kokuwamon muttered. "I'm turning myself off, Jim. Goodnight, everyone!" 

Kokuwamon's motor went off with a soft whirr, and Jim settled himself into the most comfortable patch of ground he could find. All around him, the other Digidestined sought out their own resting places, leaving Puppetmon alone to mind the fire. He sat silently, keeping an eye on his surroundings as night began to fall, obscuring the already dark terrain. Darkness he was used to; he'd spent enough time in Piedmon's domain to know what this place was like after the sun went down. What he was not used to was the way the shadows refused to lie flat and still, but instead wandered in and out of the range of firelight in complete disregard to the way shadows were supposed to behave. Puppetmon watched them, pondering the phenomenon of darkness that moved like a living thing, and for the first time in years, he was deeply, mortally afraid. 

~*~

High in his Castle in the Air, Piedmon was also noticing that there was something moving in his domain that was unfamiliar to him. He couldn't see it, not yet - he was still the ultimate power here, no matter how badly things had gone wrong in the rest of the Digital World. Nothing would dare come into his castle without his permission. Yet, he had a _sense_ that something was moving around out there, something unfamiliar and powerful. Dark, too, he decided after a while. Darker than anything he had detected in a long time. How so? Ever since he had begun building his powers, he had kept careful watch over the beings that moved in his world, making alliances with some of them, deleting a few more, always keeping careful watch over which Digimon showed the most potential for evolving to powerful Megas that might spell competition for him. There hadn't been anything even close to his abilities in years, so where had this force come from? 

Somewhat disturbed, Piedmon peered through his telescope and began scouring the countryside. Yes, everything looked just the way it usually did - bleak and gray, darker than usual in the approaching night. Nothing appeared to be damaged, nor were there any Digimon moving that he didn't recognize. As a matter of fact, the only thing he saw of interest was a small campfire surrounded by Digimon and things that were not Digimon - the human children who had been giving him so much trouble as of late. Well, they would be dealt with. If they wanted to tangle with him, they would find more than they had bargained for. Just because they had outsmarted him once... 

Piemon dragged his mind forcibly away from that thought. It was still almost too much for him to bear, that he had been overcome by a teenaged human and two Digimon who were supposed to be on _his_ side. The rage that incident had given him had been enough to send his servant scurrying for hiding places, lest their master destroy them simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He might have, if he had caught them, but not now. Piedmon had not gotten where he was today by letting himself be unhinged by small setbacks - that had always been Myotismon's downfall, and he would not let himself fall in that same trap. Now he was calm again, and ready to fight his enemies with the cool calculation that had made him master of the world. 

*_I will have a consulation,_* he decided. 

True, the rest of his comrades were gone now, but he didn't need to consult with them to decide what to do. He had his own sources. After all, wasn't he a wizard Digimon? What good was he if he couldn't take a peek into the future every once in a while? 

Rising from his throne, he stepped out of the grand hall and headed down the hall for a tiny door carved over with flowery vines sealed by an elaborate handle, so confused with frilly tomfoolery that some of his servants assumed it was only there for show. Certainly Piedmon wouldn't keep anything important behind something that looked so silly. The few glimpses anyone got to the inside convinced them that there was only a miniature study with barely enough room for a desk and a lamp, a room so small, dusty, and generally dull-looking that not even Puppetmon had ever felt it worth his while to peek inside. Now Piedmon reached into wrist of his coat and withdrew a little gold key, no bigger than a man's thumbnail, and slipped it into the hidden keyhole. The door opened silently, and Piedmon slipped through it. 

The room inside was just barely large enough to hold him comfortably, but he settled himself at his desk and lit the lamp with a negligent wave of his hand. He reached down to open the desk's single drawer. Inside it was a red silk sack containing a thick deck of cards. He took them out and shuffled them with practiced ease. Had a human been watching him, they might have noticed that the cards bore a faint resemblance to what they knew as the Tarot, as they were marked with images of stars and planets and other strange things, as well as the more ordinary suits of cards and other things that a person from Earth would not have recognized. When Piedmon had finished his shuffling, he began laying the cards out on his desk and studied the pattern they made. 

He frowned; the cards were not telling him what he wanted to know. A card patterned with black swirls informed him that there was an unknown force present - but he knew that already. Similarly, the card marked for traitors was no surprise. A card marked with swords indicated a battle - perhaps more than one - but he had already decided to fight the Digidestined, so what news was that? Likewise, the card for death was clearly visible, but there was nothing to indicate to him whether that death was for him, his enemies, or even if it was metaphorical. The next card was an indicator of great change and unsettlement, and he frowned at it. If he won this battle, wouldn't life continue to go on the way it always had? He knew if he was defeated, the entire Digital World would reset itself to what it had been before he and the other Dark Masters had structured it to their own needs. What but that could be the kind of drastic changes the cards indicated? He frowned and looked at the final card. It was a shining golden light on a dark field, a symbol of triumph against adversity. What kind of adversity? That was why he seldom bothered with the cards; they were so hopelessly vague, their warnings didn't usually make any sense until it was too late to do anything about them. 

"The signs are not good," he murmured. "Yet, the victory sign... Despite the signs of danger, I will triumph, and I will claim the powers of the Digidestined as my own and bring about a new age!" 

With a sweeping gesture, he collected his cards and dropped them back into the sack. Afire with determination, he left the room, slamming the door shut behind him and hurrying down the halls. 

He did not notice that a shadow not his own trailed after him. 

~*~

Puppetmon sat and watched the flames. They flashed with a comforting warmth, shining on the faces of the young humans and their partners as they slept. Even in their sleep, their faces had a look of determination, as if they fought battles in their dreams, and the girl Kari twitched and whimpered a bit. 

"You take it easy, kid," said Puppetmon, with a gentleness in his voice that would have amazed his old cronies. "I'm lookin' out for trouble tonight. Nothing's going to get past me, so don't you worry." 

The girl appeared to hear him; she sighed softly and became still. Puppetmon stared, a bit surprised at himself. 

"Look what I've gotten myself into," he said. "Babysitting for a bunch of human kids when just a couple days ago, we were all trying to blow each other to bits... I kinda think I like this better that being blown up, though." 

If he had to be absolutely honest with himself, he could admit that he liked this situation well enough even when it wasn't being compared to physical violence. It reminded him of the good old days when he'd been a hatchling, and none of the games had any winners or losers, just lots of friends having a good time together, and he'd never had any problems and no worries beyond when Elecmon would get back with dinner. More than that, he thought he liked the Digidestined. They were a good bunch of kids. They never did any of the sneaking and backstabbing the beasties in Piedmon's castle got up to. They were brave and resourceful, and they cared about each other with a depth of devotion that amazed him. If the necessity was there, he had no doubt they would fight and die for each other. 

*_If these are what friends are like, I wish I'd found some sooner._* 

He was just beginning to scold himself for being so sentimental when something caught his eye. He blinked and looked again. There really was something moving around at the fringes of the campfire... or a nothing pretending to be something. It was a shadow, amorphous and perfectly black, always lurking just beyond the range of what could be seen clearly. He squinted and stared, trying to see it more clearly... 

Suddenly, it was like he'd been caught in a rip tide and was being tugged out to sea, pulled as irresistibly as the sea was pulled by the moon. His vision was full of utter darkness that tried to engulf him. He struggled against it... and the darkness spoke. 

**It is pointless to resist, you know. Why should you fight? You have nothing in this world. What is the point of staying? Everything you have ever tried to do has not brought you any happiness. There is no point even in living. All of it is a misery, nothing but futile struggle...**

"You're wrong, whoever you are," Puppetmon asserted. "I'm happy helping out the Digidestined. That's worth something." 

**No. They ally with you only because you are strong, but they do not care anything for you. They will never be able to care about someone who tried to kill them. You will not defeat Piedmon. He is stronger even than all of you together. You will only get hurt, and see them be hurt. What is the point?**

"The point is," said Puppetmon, "that I ain't giving up, no matter what you say. This is the first time I've ever had something worthwhile to do, and I'm going to do it. Besides, even if the kids don't care about me now, they might someday. I might make new friends. And if we fight, we just might win. I'm game to try, anyway." 

He felt the air shudder around him, as if in revulsion. Forces surged around him again, but this time, they were shoving him away as fast as he could, and he thought he heard the voice make a noise like, "Ptooey!" The next thing he knew, he was tumbling top over teakettle back into the circle of firelight. He looked up in time to see the black shadow slinking away. 

**Hope,** it muttered. **Disgusting.**

Then it was gone entirely. Puppetmon blinked, thinking the voice had sounded awfully familiar, as if it was one he had known all his life. He sat and stared at the thing, trying to puzzle over what had just happened. Then he jumped to his feet and started shaking the shoulders of the nearest Digidestined. 

"Guys, guys, guys!" he shouted. "You'd better wake up, 'cause I think something really important just happened!" 

"What?" groaned Matt, still half-asleep. "Can't it wait until morning?" 

"No," Puppetmon snapped. "You gotta know right now. You know that shadow I was talking about? It was here." 

"What shadow?" asked Tai, rubbing his eyes. 

"The Shadow beyond Shadows! The big dark thing that eats little hatchlings! It was right here, and it was talking to me! It tried to eat me, and then it spat me out again." 

"What's going on?" Sora mumbled, sitting up and looking around. 

Matt sighed. "Puppetmon fell asleep and had a nightmare about that stupid story he told us." 

"It was not a nightmare!" said Puppemon, affronted. "It was real!" 

"Take it easy on the little guy," Tai said. "He can't be the only one who's a little freaked out at being here. I was having some pretty bad dreams, too." 

"So was I," Matt admitted. "I kept dreaming about when my parents split up... thinking it was all my fault..." 

"I was dreaming about soccer," said Tai. 

"That's no surprise," said Matt. "With you, everything is soccer." 

"Yeah... I kept trying to score a goal, but it got blocked every time, and all my teammates kept booing at me... I was just about ready to give it all up and run off the field." 

"That would have been bad." 

Everyone looked to see that Kari was now awake, staring at them with eyes that flickered oddly in the firelight. They almost glowed. 

"What do you mean?" asked Tai. 

"There's something dark here," said Kari. "I've felt it all night. Something is trying to break our spirits, so we won't be able to fight." Her expression went distant, and her voice took on a misty quality. "I was dreaming about all the times I've ever been helpless - when I got sick and everyone was so frightened, when Myotismon captured Gatomon and killed Wizardmon, when I first came here and was thinking that I was too young and small to be able to help... I thought I should just lie down here and never wake up again, because there was no point in me even trying to fight. Then a beautiful woman appeared in my dream and told me that if I gave up hope, everything would be destroyed, so I woke up." 

By this point, all the Digidestined were awake and staring at her. Mimi shivered a little. 

"That's spooky," she said. "I had a dream like that... thinking that I was too weak and silly to get into a fight, that I'd just get in everyone's way because I'm always so scared... I just don't want to see anyone get hurt. Maybe it would be better if we just gave up. Maybe we won't get killed if we don't fight..." 

"Don't even say things like that," Joe scolded. "Do you think Piedmon's just going to ignore us after everything we've already done, even if we surrendered now? That would be just asking to be killed! And even if he didn't hurt us, what about the rest of the world? Every Digimon here is in his thrall! If we don't fight, nobody will ever free them! I mean, I know I'm not cut out to be a fighter, but I've been doing it anyway - and so have you!" 

"That's right, Mimi," said Palmon. "I can do all the fighting for both of us, but I'd be nothing if you weren't here with me." 

"I think I get it," said Izzy slowly. "Someone's sent us dreams to make us lose confidence in ourselves, so we won't fight back. After all, if we're sure it's hopeless, why bother?" 

"But that's not right!" said TK, wide-eyed. "If you give up before you even start, you really don't have a chance! The only way to win is to try your best, right?" 

Matt looked at his little brother. "Didn't you have any bad dreams, TK?" 

"Uh-uh," the boy replied. "Though I did have one dream... Something came up to me and tried to eat me or something, but then it spat me out again." He giggled. "It said I taste yucky!" 

The other kids looked at each other. 

"That sounds really familiar," said Puppetmon. 

"Are you trying to tell me," said Tai slowly, "that there really is a killer shadow out to get us?" 

"At present, the data is insufficient," Izzy replied. "The best I can say is... we'd better watch ourselves." 

"Looks like we're not getting any more sleep tonight," Matt commented. 

Jim grimaced. "Maybe if we're lucky, Piedmon will go ahead and show up so we can get it over with." 

"I'm glad to hear you're feeling agreeable," a new voice interjected. 

Joe moaned. "Jim, I am going to get you for saying that!" 

"I didn't mean it!" Jim protested. 

There was a rushing sound, as of applause, and the fire at the center of the circle suddenly shot upwards six feet, blazing with intense golden light. Then the lights parted, and Piedmon himself stepped out. He smiled and bowed mockingly to them. 

"Ladies and gentlemon," he said, "welcome to my humble abode. Please, sit back and enjoy the show. I guarantee, it will be the performance of a lifetime... a lifetime, I might add, which is going to end shortly. Until then, please remain seated. During the performance, there should be no flash photography or digivolving in the aisles." 

"This guy has one serious actor's complex," said Joe. "Do you think counseling would help?" 

"Obviously not an appreciator of the arts," said Piedmon, glaring at Joe. "I suppose one must expect that from a group of uneducated children." 

"Oh, we're educated," said Tai. "It's just really hard to take a guy seriously when he shows up wearing ribbons and a tutu." 

"Enough! I tire of your insolence," Piedmon snapped. "I _was_ going to offer you one last chance to surrender, but I can see it would be pointless to discuss anything with such pedestrian minds. Prepare to be eliminated!" 

"Same to you!" Tai retorted. "Okay, guys, give it all you've got!" 

There was a flash of dazzling light, so brilliant that even Piedmon had to shield his eyes from its intensity. When it had cleared, he found that the Digidestined children had concealed themselves, but had left in their stead a collection of three Megas, six Ultimates, and a formidable Champion, all of whom looked extremely annoyed. Piedmon only smirked. 

"Well, well," he said. "Isn't this a merry gathering? I suppose you think I should be impressed." 

"Face it Piedmon, you're outnumbered," shouted Tai from the pinnacle of a large rock. Give up now, and maybe we won't do more than knock you back to Hatchling-level!" 

"Your offer is far too generous. I simply couldn't accept it," Piedmon answered. "Well, what are you waiting for, mighty warriors? Come and get me!" 

He was answered by a barrage of attacks that filled the air, momentarily obscuring him. Then the campfire exploded skyward, carrying Piedmon safely with it. He hovered in midair, surrounded by a ring of fire, which he flung in all directions to harry and scorch his enemies. Lillymon yelped as the fire burned her fragile leaf-wings, and Mimi gave an echoing cry of dismay. Angewomon flew quickly to her side, shielding her long enough to tend to her injuries. MegaKabuterimon tried a blast at Piedmon, only to have it caught and deflected. When he tried again, Piedmon made a casual gesture, and the lightning ball curved in midair to go barreling down at Zudomon. The slow-moving Digimon could not get out of the way fast enough to avoid taking a hit. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon fired at him simultaneously; he vanished and let the fire and ice meet and cancel each other out. The children watched, horrified. 

"Are you sure there are no levels higher than Mega?" asked Joe. 

"Oh, this guy's a Mega, all right," Izzy replied, tapping at his laptop. "It's just that this guy's had a lot more battle experience - centuries of it, in fact. He knows more about how to fight a battle than all of our Digimon put together. Not only that, but he's got magical powers into the bargain. The laws of physics don't have to listen to him; he can do pretty much anything he wants." 

"So are you saying it's hopeless?" asked Tai angrily. 

"No, I wouldn't say that," Izzy replied. "Just that he's very powerful, very smart, and very unpredictable, which means we're going to have to be really, really careful. I'm scanning him for weaknesses, but-" 

"But your computer ain't gonna pick up the weaknesses that matter," said a voice. The kids jumped; they hadn't realized that Puppetmon had come to join them. 

"What are you talking about?" asked Izzy. 

"That computer can only tell you so much," Puppetmon replied, "and most of that useless. This guy's the toughest cookie there is - even his weak spots are tough. If you wanna beat him, outsmart him!" 

"Like how?" asked Izzy, miffed. 

"Like this!" 

Before anyone could react, he somersaulted onto the field to land behind Piedmon. With a deft maneuver, he pulled out a coil of red rope and tossed it in just such a way that it caught one of Piedmon's feet, making him stumble. Immediately, the other Digimon rained down blasts so heavily that Puppetmon had to back off several feet to avoid being cooked. The smoke cleared over a rather scorched and battered-looking Piedmon, who twisted around to glare at Puppetmon. 

"Traitor!" he hissed. "You'll pay for that!" 

Angemon tried to throw another Hand of Fate at him, but he rolled out of the way and sprang. Faster than the eye could follow, he pulled a thin knife out of his sleeve and hurled it through the air. Puppetmon turned just in time to see it driving toward him. There was a crack of splitting wood and a wail of pain, and Puppetmon fell. 

"No!" Jim shouted. "He killed him!" 

"No he didn't," said Tai, peering through his binoculars. "He's not dead, he's just injured. See, he's still moving." 

Jim snatched the binoculars out of his hand and stared. Sure enough, Puppetmon was still moving, though feebly, trying to drag himself out of the line of fire. He looked to be badly hurt; the knife had driven a deep crack through his chest, and he seemed to have lost part of one of his gears. 

"We've got to go get him," said Jim. "If we get him off the battlefield, maybe he'll have a chance." 

"No way, Jim," Joe protested. "It's too dangerous - you'll get killed out there!" 

"I don't care," said Jim. "He was willing to come back and rescue me from Piedmon - it's time to repay the favor." 

With that, he dashed out of his hiding place and ran as fast as he could across the battlefield. Seeing what he was up to, Megadramon flew over him, shielding him from any stray attacks. Within a few breaths, he was at Puppetmon's side. 

"How are you doing?" he asked. 

Puppetmon gave a weak shrug. "Not so good. You?" 

"Fine. Look, this isn't the time to be funny - I'm trying to help you. Can you walk?" 

"Not really..." 

"Then I'll carry you. Come on." 

He scooped the puppet up in his arms, surprised at how light he was. He would have expected something so powerful to be heavier, but no, he weighed no more than an ordinary armload of firewood. It was just as well, because he needed to move fast. Piedmon had seen what he was trying to do, and was trying to stop him. Megadramon roared and spat fireballs to keep the clown distracted until Jim was safely behind the rock again. 

"It won't do any good!" Piedmon shouted after him. "He's a traitor, and he will die as one." 

"He's right, you know," said Puppetmon, as Jim settled him on the ground again. "I'm not gonna last much longer..." 

"Don't talk like that," Jim told him. "You're safe here. We can help you." 

"Don't think so," said Puppetmon faintly. "Piedmon's stronger than I am... knew that all along. I'm not gonna get over this." 

"Then why did you do it?" Jim demanded angrily. 

Puppetmon shrugged. "Guess I just wanted to do something useful." 

"You shouldn't have done this," said Jim. "You're worth more to us alive. You shouldn't have to die for us." 

"It's okay," said Puppetmon. "Don't you know anything? When a Digimon dies, they get sent back as an egg to start all over again. I'm just getting another chance to do things right, that's all." 

Jim bowed his head. "You wouldn't have to die now if you hadn't been protecting us." 

"That's where you got it wrong," said Puppetmon. "Listen, 'cause I don't have much time left. The Shadow is ... I guess you'd call it despair. It eats the ones who don't have anything left to live for. If it hadn't been for you guys, well... my life wasn't anything to brag about. It was meeting you guys that made me think it would be worth it, to do it all again. Otherwise..." 

He trailed off. He seemed to be having trouble breathing, and Jim stared at him worriedly. 

"Come on, hang in there," he whispered. 

"Don't worry about me. I'm not the first Digimon to be reprocessed," said Puppetmon. "I'll be fine. You're the one who's gotta worry. If you kids die, you're dead. Whatever you do, don't give up hope!" 

"I won't," said Jim. "You sure you'll be okay, then? You promise you'll come back?" 

"Soon as you get rid of Piedmon so the Primary Village can be put back," Puppetmon replied. He was quiet for a moment longer. Quietly, he said, "Hey, Jim?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Are we friends?" 

Jim managed to smile a little. "Yeah, we're friends. You're a very good friend." 

Puppemon smiled back, closing his eyes peacefully. 

"Good," he said. "Game over... I win." 

With that, he faded away into sparks. Jim stared at the space he'd been a minute ago, scarcely able believe what he was seeing. One minute, he'd been talking to one of the most powerful Digimon in existence, and the next minute, he was gone, deleted to save the people he had so recently befriended. It didn't seem possible. 

Slowly, he tore his eyes away from the empty place where his friend had been and looked up at the battlefield, where Piedmon was still at war with the other Digimon. He didn't seem at all disturbed by the death of his former henchmon; indeed, he appeared to be having a wonderful time. He laughed as he deflected one of Angewomon's arrows, parrying it easily with a twirl of his sword and sending it ricocheting off towards Megadramon. The dragon winced, and so did Jim. Suddenly, the idea of all his friends dying was not an abstract notion anymore, but a concrete reality that was rapidly progressing toward a certainty. If Piedmon could take out an experienced Mega with just that casual wave of his hand, he could take out the rest of the Digidestined's partners as well. The only one out there who had anywhere near the power Piedmon had was... 

"Jim, where are you going?" asked Izzy. "You can't keep running out onto the battlefield like that - you're going to get skewered!" 

"I have to," said Jim quietly. "I'm not going to take this lying down. Piedmon has to be destroyed for this." 

Tai tried to step out in front of Jim. "That might not be such a good idea. Maybe nobody's told you yet, but losing your temper during a fight is a really bad idea..." 

"Let me go," said Jim. He moved Tai gently but firmly aside and continued in the direction he was going. Nobody else moved to stop him. The other children looked at each other with bleak expressions. 

"Do you think he knows what he's doing?" asked Matt. 

Joe sighed. "He's going to get creamed." 

Jim continued his journey across the battlefield, and Megadramon dropped out of the sky to coil around him, shielding him with his scales and wings. 

"Jim, what are you doing out here?" he asked. "If Piedmon sees you..." 

"I had to be here with you," Jim replied. "Megadramon, I think it's time." 

"Time?" the dragon repeated. 

"To evolve." 

"Are you sure?" The look in Megadramon's golden eyes was frightened. 

"Don't worry," said Jim. "Just trust me. I think it's going to be all right. It's the only way." 

"Well, if you say so..." Megadramon replied. "All right. Let's give this a try." 

He closed his eyes tightly. Jim did the same, bowing his head over his Digivice, his face a mask of concentration. From behind his eyelids, he was aware of a brightness that grew steadily more intense, until he was sure he would have been blinded if he opened his eyes... 

Then it stopped, swept up in a rush and a roar, and a shadow fell upon him. He jumped backwards, his eyes snapping open in surprise, and his gaze fell on a razor-sharp silver talon. Slowly his eyes traveled upwards, scanning without processing a collection of iron plates, pistons, and winding cables, all the way up to a pair of gigantic silvery canons and the masklike face of a steel dragon. It raised its head and roared, and the earth shook at the return of MachineDramon. Jim stared for a moment... then took off running for the relative safety of the rocks. 

"Now he went and did it!" Tai exclaimed. "We're all going to get creamed now!" 

Even Jim seemed a little less than certain about what he'd done. He reached the others and slumped against a stone, trying to get his legs to stop shaking. 

"Why didn't somebody tell me that was what he evolved into?" he demanded. 

"We didn't think you were crazy enough to do it!" Izzy snapped back. 

"I didn't really think he was going to... wait a minute!" Jim exclaimed. 

He was peering over the rim of the rock, staring back at MachineDramon. The other Digimon were also staring at him, wondering what he was going to do. Even Piedmon looked somewhat uneasy for a moment. Slowly, the steel dragon turned in a circle, looking at each of them through his blank black eyes. He raised his head to the sky, training his canons on Garudamon. 

"No!" Sora cried, raising a hand as if to hold him back. 

"Just wait," said Jim. "I think..." 

Even as he spoke, MachineDramon whirled in place, far faster than anyone would imagine something of his weight could move, and blasted Piedmon with a force that sent him careening through the air and slamming into the side of the mountain. He sat up looking rather scorched and battered, shaking his head dazedly. 

"What was that?" he muttered. 

"Part payment," said MachineDramon. 

"... a bluff," Jim finished. "I knew he wouldn't really let me down!" 

"It's too early to celebrate," said Matt. "Look - Piedmon might be down, but he's not out." 

It was true. Slowly but surely, Piedmon was hauling his way out of the rubble, glaring at MachineDramon with his mad red eyes. MachineDramon, being what he was, remained expressionless. 

"What is this?" the clown hissed. "How can this be? You've returned to your true state; how can you still be fighting against me?" 

"My true state," MachineDramon rumbled, "is partner to my Hyumon. Nothing else I am matters." 

"I don't get it," said Mimi to Jim. "I thought you were so worried that once he went back to MachineDramon, he'd be all mean again. How come he didn't?" 

Jim shrugged. "It's just a matter of the right diet." 

"Huh?" Mimi asked, blinking. 

"Jim, stop talking like a doctor," Joe scolded. 

"Oh, all right. I was guessing that half the reason he turned out so bad the first time around was because Piedmon was the one raising him, forcing him to evolve as fast as he could through fear and anger. I made him evolve because I knew he had to, because I knew what would happen if he didn't." He dropped his eyes a little, embarrassed. "I don't know how I knew how to do it. I just thought of wanting to protect all you guys, and of putting the Digital World right again, so all the Digimon would be free and the ones the Dark Masters killed could come back, and I gave all those thoughts to Megadramon, and he evolved." 

"That makes sense," said Izzy. "Different input equals different output. Perfectly logical." 

Kari gave one of her knowing smiles. "Or maybe MachineDramon just knows more this time around." 

"Never mind how it happened," said Tai. "We still have a fight to win!" 

The children quickly turned their attention back to the battlefield. The arrival of the former Dark Master seemed to have turned the tide, and Piedmon was starting to look distinctly hemmed in. His attacks were still hitting as hard as ever, when they landed, but they didn't seem to do much harm to MachineDramon's steel sides. Furthermore, the last attack on him appeared to have done some damage. He didn't seem to be moving as quickly as he had before, favoring one leg, and he was breathing with noticeable difficulty. 

Sensing weakness, the three most powerful Digimon moved to encircle him. While they kept their enemy blocked, the others rained down their attacks on him, filling the air with fire and lighting. Piedmon made a final desperate bid for freedom, but MetalGarurumon leaped to block him. He quickly backed away, only to find the other two Megas had closed in on him from the other side. Even as he was sizing up the situation, a pair of lightning bolts, courtesy of MegaKabuterimon and Zudomon flashed down from the sky and struck his hands, making him drop his swords. They hit the ground sizzling. Before Piedmon could react, Lillymon dove down from the sky and snatched them up, tossing them to Angemon, who took them and snapped them in half. 

"Would you look at that?" said Matt casually. "Looks like you've been disarmed, Piedmon." 

"We'd ask you to surrender," Tai added, "but seeing as how we have to destroy you to put the Digital World back in place, there's really no point in it." 

Piedmon's eyes narrowed. "I can still fight back. You don't know the full extent of my powers." 

"Then let's not wait around to find out," said Sora. "Hit him with everything you've got, Garudamon!" 

Garudamon obliged, hurling down bolts of fire. The other Digimon followed suit, firing off their attacks until the children had to cover their ears against the sound. For a moment, all was chaos. Then, gradually, the tremors beneath their feet subsided, and the Digidestined cautiously opened their eyes and turned to look. In the center of the field was a churning cloud of gray dust through which nothing was visible. 

"Is he gone?" asked TK. 

"Hang on, and I'll check," Tai replied. 

From his pocket, he withdrew his trusty telescope and peered through it. All it showed him at first was a closer view of the dust, but after a few seconds, it cleared, showing him... 

"Holy smoke," he muttered. "I don't believe it - all that, and he's still not gone!" 

"What?" There was a general outcry, and several hands scrambled for the telescope. Joe won, primarily because he was taller than most of the others, and squinted through the scope. 

"He's right," said Joe grimly. "Piedmon's still alive. He doesn't look so good, though." 

In the center of the field, Piedmon was trying to haul himself out of a crater. There didn't appear to be much left of him to haul. His brightly colored clothing was scorched and blackened, ripped in several places. One of the blue ribbons he wore had been torn off completely, and his mask had been lost, leaving him looking strangely defenseless. Still, he was undeniably alive... though for how much longer, it was hard to say. 

"I don't believe this guy," Tai muttered. He climbed over the rock and went walking toward the field. "Hey, you! What is with you? Don't you know you've already lost?" 

"I cannot lose," Piedmon ground out painfully. 

"Funny, it doesn't look that way to me," Matt commented, coming to join his friend. "From where I stand, you look pretty beaten." 

"Affirmative," said Izzy. "According to these readings your power level at present is approximately... nothing." 

Piedmon scowled. "Impertinent boy, always relying on your computer for everything. If I could reach you from here..." He tried to take a step, stumbled, and nearly lost his footing. 

"Look at you," said Jim. "You can't even walk. You've got no power, no weapons, no more henchmen to push around..." 

"You might as well give up," Mimi told him. "I'm tired of fighting. I'm ready to go home, so just stop it already." 

Kari scrambled over the rock and went to join her friends... then walked past them, towards Piedmon. She stopped just out of his reach and fixed him with a stern glare, and he stared back, somehow unable to look away from the strange light in her soft brown eyes. 

"So you see," she said softly, "we still win. This time, every time. Surrender." 

Piedmon continued to stare at her with a strange expression, as if he were suddenly realizing she was someone he had known before, a long time ago. He opened his mouth to say something - perhaps protest, perhaps ask a question - but no one would ever know what it was, because a hole in the air abruptly opened and swallowed him. Kari gave a squeak of fright and jumped for the safety of her brother's arms. 

"What the heck was that?" Matt exclaimed. 

"I don't know!" said Tai. "Kari, what did you do?" 

"I didn't do anything!" 

"Are you sure?" Tai persisted. "You were doing that creepy Queen Kari thing again." 

Kari shook her head stubbornly. "_She_ didn't do anything, either. There was just a hole, and it ate him, and I didn't _like_ it." 

Izzy did what he always did in times of confusion - turned to his computer. 

"Guys, I'm picking up some really screwy readings," he said. "If I were you, I wouldn't go too close to that spot. There's no telling what will happen if you do." 

TK stared at the space for a moment. He couldn't see anything strange about it, except that Piedmon was suddenly not there anymore, which he didn't count as a bad thing. Curious, he scooped up a stray pebble and threw it. Instantly, a dark circle opened up, a swirling mass of shadows. Matt shot his brother a glare. 

"What did you do that for?" he said. 

"I didn't know it was going to do that!" TK wailed. 

"I know what it is, now," said Kari, staring fixedly into the center of the shade. "That's the Shadow that came in my dream. It's just like Puppetmon said - it's the Shadow beyond Shadows." 

"So that's it," said Jim. "Piedmon knew it was hopeless for him, so the shadow took him." 

"What are we going to do about it?" asked Sora, staring at the hole worriedly. 

Kari continued to stare silently, her expression distant. 

"I think," she said slowly, "it's trying to talk to me." 

"It's a black hole," said Joe. "How can it talk?" 

"It is Darkness," she said. "It's... my flip side. We're connected. It's telling me... it wants us to come to it." 

"You've got to be kidding," said Tai. "We're supposed to just throw ourselves down a hole because it tells us to?" 

"It's not just a hole," Kari said. "Don't you see? It's _alive_." Then she stiffened, looking suddenly surprised. "It's not just alive... it says it's a Digimon." 

"A Digimon?" Mimi repeated uncertainly, staring at the hole. 

"One moment, I'll check," said Izzy. He tapped frantically at his keyboard. "Uh-huh - she's right. There _is_ some form of Digital life down there, but... I can't seem to get a lock on it. It looks like that portal is the gateway to some other place, maybe even another dimension. If we go in there, I can't promise we'll come out again." 

"I don't think we have another choice." 

Everyone stared at Joe. 

"What?" he asked. 

"Are you telling me," said Tai slowly, "that _you_, of all people, are telling us to jump into a black hole that might have no escape, for no particular reason?" 

"There is a reason," said Joe. "Piedmon still hasn't been defeated. He just went through the hole. That means that if we're going to destroy him, we've got to follow him. Or have you noticed that the Digital World isn't re-calibrating itself yet?" 

"Maybe it's just taking its time?" Tai suggested sheepishly. 

"I don't think so," said Izzy. "Much as I hate to say it, Joe's right." 

"What's so bad about saying I'm right?" asked Joe. 

"Well, if that's what we've got to do," said Tai with a philosophical shrug. "But, um, maybe we should hold hands or something? So we don't get lost?" 

"I'm not holding your hand," said Matt. "Once was plenty, thank you very much." 

"All right, then I'll hold Kari's hand," said Tai. 

With some reluctance, the group managed to string itself into a line without anyone getting too terribly embarrassed. The Digimon dropped back to their customary forms, hanging close to their partners. Then, with a resolute step, Tai marched into the black hole with the others being pulled behind him. 

The results were instantaneous. Suddenly, the group found itself plunged into absolute blackness. Taichi, startled, stopped walking, but it did him no good. As if caught in a strong current, the group was pulled irreversibly forward. They could feel their hands and feet dragging, as if the shadows were so deep as to be palpable, but they could see nothing until... 

"Hey, what's that?" TK called. His voice echoed oddly in the darkness. 

"What's what? I don't see anything," said Matt. 

"That thing up ahead - the sparkly thing. It looks like a little star." 

The others looked all around, trying to find what he was seeing. Far in the distance but growing rapidly closer was a tiny point of... not light, precisely, but a break in the otherwise featureless darkness. As they drew nearer, they could see that it did indeed resemble some kind of dark star, an interconnecting collection of pyramids forming a massive geometric construction. With nothing to compare it to, it appeared tiny at first, small enough to hold in their hands, but it continued to grow until it was larger than a house. They hovered beside it, tiny and insignificant. 

"Is this it?" asked Sora. 

"I think so," said Kari uncertainly. "I can't tell." 

"Then allow me to relieve your uncertainty," said a deep voice. 

A panel on the top of the structure opened, and a figure rose from within its depths. Like everything in this black world, it was dark and shadowlike, its form vague, but it appeared mainly human. It even looked vaguely familiar - masked like Myotismon, bound to cables that made it strangely reminiscent of Etemon and his dark network. That did not bode well, but since there was no getting away from it now, Tai addressed it. 

"Well, we're here," he said. "What do you want from us?" 

The dark thing gave him a bitter smile. "Your company." 

"Well, thanks for the invitation," said Tai, "but I really don't think we can stay. See, we've gotta go back home, and-" 

"You will not," said the dark thing. "You are going to stay here." 

"I'd like to see you make us," said Tai bravely. 

The dark thing smiled. It was not a nice smile at all. 

"All right, then," he said. "Where are you going to go?" 

The children looked around. The darkness was the same in all directions. There wasn't anything they could even use for purchase - even the flying things couldn't seem to move. They were suspended like puppets in the center of never-ending blackness. 

"Let us go!" shouted Sora, a note of panic in her voice. "What do you think you're doing, keeping us here like this?" 

"I cannot let you go. If I knew the way out, I would take it... but there is none. Once you enter here, you never leave." 

"What?" Joe yelped. "What do you mean? How is that even possible?" 

"These are the depths of despair," said the dark thing, "and I am their ruler and their prisoner, Apocalymon!" 

"Apocalymon?" Izzy repeated. "As in, apocalypse? The end of the world?" 

"That seems to be my destiny," Apocalymon replied. "I came into existence here eons ago, so long ago that I cannot remember any time beyond it or how much time has passed since then. When I saw that the world had no exit, I sought others who would join me here, others who could perhaps show me the way out or at least abate my loneliness... but they, too, became lost in the shadows. Nevertheless, I continued to seek company, drawing all I could reach into shadows, believing one of them would know the answer. Even after I lost hope, I brought them here that if they could not abate my misery, they would at least feel it with me!" 

"That's cruel!" Mimi protested, horrified. 

"Is it? Is it not more cruel that this should be my lot, that I should suffer endlessly like this? Why should I abide in endless misery while others live in joy and love? What did I do to deserve this torment?" The creature's voice rose to an agonized roar. "No! I will not permit it! If I cannot have freedom, I will have justice! If I must suffer, _all_ must suffer with me!" 

"So you mean you dragged us down here just to punish us for being happy?" asked Matt. 

"No," said Apocalymon. He grinned, baring vampire fangs. "Not just you. You nine children are the hope of the Digital World. As long as I have you with me, the beings of that world will fall into despair, and all of the Digital World will be swept in darkness." 

"But if you destroy the Digital World..." Izzy began, and stopped. If the Digital World was destroyed... well, for starters, their parents would someday realize that their children would not come home. Would they, too, fall into despair, and be trapped here? More than that, what if the primordial void created by the destruction of the Digital World threw off the balance of other worlds as well? Would that open the gateway for Apocalymon to enter those worlds as well? 

"Yes," Apocalymon hissed, as if reading his thoughts. "I will have the Digital World, and your world, and all worlds..." 

"And then what?" Tai challenged. "What will you do then? Then you won't even have anything to work for after that!" 

It was the wrong thing to say. Apocalymon let out a bone-chilling scream of utter despair, burying his face in his clawed hands. 

"You are right," he wailed. "Even then, I am utterly without hope! I cannot escape this torment, ever!" 

"Never?" asked Matt. "But - even you have to die sometime..." 

"Don't you think I've tried?" Apocalymon snapped. Before anyone could turn their eyes away, he rammed his claws into his own chest, seeming to rip his own heart to shreds. His face twisted in agony, but the wound closed over even as he made it. "I cannot even be destroyed! My suffering is eternal and absolute!" 

The children stood silent, unable to think of anything to say to this dark terror. Mimi was unaware that she was crying, but tears spilled down her face. Something in her ached at the fate of this creature. He was right - it wasn't fair... 

"Oh, this is horrible!" she said, turning her face in disgust. "He's right, we're stuck down here forever, and we're all going to wind up like _him_..." 

"No, we're not," said Palmon encouragingly. "You'll never be like him, because you'll never be that lonely. Nothing can separate the two of us!" 

"You promise?" Mimi asked, sniffling. 

"Of course! We're partners, always and forever!" 

"And teammates," Sora added, setting a hand on Mimi's shoulder. "You can't be alone with all of us around." 

Mimi took a deep breath and nodded, hugging Palmon for support. The other children relaxed slightly. They couldn't be totally lost, even in a situation like this, as long as they had each other to rely on. Apocalymon stared at them a moment, then screamed in overwhelming fury. 

"_NO!_ How _dare_ you! How dare you maintain hope even in the depths of despair! Are all the shadows in the universe not enough to stop you?" 

Kari gave him one of her unreadable looks. "Even the darkest shadow never put out a candle." 

"No?" Apocalymon said. "How about ripping it to shreds?" 

A claw shot out of the tip of a pyramid, and Gatomon was just barely able to shove Kari out of the way. Undaunted, the claw shot by again, this time nearly striking Sora. More claws bloomed out of the dark star, shooting by like comets. The Digimon did their best to defend their partners, but they were no match for Apocalymon's power. 

As usual, Kokuwamon refused to admit this. Memories of MachineDramon's power were still fresh in his mind, and he was not ready to admit defeat. He shot several thousand bolts of power at the black claws as they rushed by, hardly noticing that they did no good. 

"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted. "You idiot! I've met smarter _rocks_ than you!" 

"What?" said Apocalymon, momentarily nonplused. He was not used to being insulted, or to being addressed so fearlessly. "What are you talking about?" 

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" asked Kokuwamon. "Here you are saying you're so lonely, but the first time you actually get someone down here who doesn't just whither up and disappear as soon as you talk to them, you actually go out of your way to try to kill them! It's no wonder you don't have any friends if that's the way you treat people!" 

"That's right!" said Gabumon, picking up the cue. "Why, my friend Matt here is the very embodiment of Friendship! You wouldn't want to destroy that, would you?" 

Apocalymon scowled. "I must. No one must have what I do not!" 

"Now you're acting like a spoiled brat," Palmon scolded. "Nobody's going to like you if you act like that! Maybe if you showed a little generosity, people would like you better." 

"So," said Apocalymon slowly, "you call me cruel, selfish, and foolish? Is that how I am behaving?" 

"Well, kind of," said Tentomon, "but maybe they were being a little harsh, so don't be insulted or anything..." 

"If that is my nature," said Apocalymon, "than surely you will never do anything but fear and detest me! I am better off alone!" 

He moved to attack them, but the Digimon scampered to distract him. 

"Wait!" said Gatomon. "Just because you aren't good now doesn't mean you can't change! _I_ changed!" 

"So did I," said Kokuwamon. "Look at me! I used to be one of the Dark Masters before I met Jim. If I can change, can't you?" 

A startled expression crossed Apocalymon's face... but it quickly faded. 

"No," he said. "I have been too long alone. I am too far gone to change now! Even if I did, you would never accept me! You are only trying to preserve yourselves! I will not allow it!" 

There was chaos again as the claws shot around the crowd like comets. Jim just barely managed to dive out of the way of one before it struck him - not an easy thing to do in a void. He floated through the nothingness, spinning dizzily upside down, and he landed on something solid. At first, he thought he had been hit by one of the black claws, but it didn't feel quite like metal, nor was it moving with much force. It was something small, smooth, and roundish, floating idly through the void. He managed to twist around, and saw a football-sized ovoid covered in green polka-dots. He stared at it in surprise. 

"Did Apocalymon lay an egg?" he asked. 

The others turned to look, and Jim held the object up for inspection. 

"Oh, I know what that is!" TK exclaimed. "That's a Digi-Egg! I saw lots of them in Primary village." 

"What's it doing here?" asked Tai. "That thing sure wasn't here a minute ago." 

"You're right," said Jim, frowning. "It must have shown up just in these last few moments..." 

He was distracted from his ruminations by a black claw shooting in his direction. He dodged, spun upside down, and caught a brief glimpse of Apocalymon's face. Even in his fear, he found a shred of pity for the dark creature. It looked so hopeless... 

"I've got it!" he said suddenly. "It's hope!" 

"It is?" said Tai doubtfully. 

"Yes," said Jim. "I'm almost sure of it. It all fits together perfectly!" 

"Well, if you could explain it to us sometime in the next couple of years..." said Matt in annoyance as he shoved TK out of the way of a claw. 

"Yes," said Jim. "It's just like Puppetmon said. The shadow only takes Digimon who have lost hope." 

"And then they disappear," said Tai. 

"No, they don't!" said Izzy. "Nothing can just disappear - it has to go somewhere!" 

Mimi looked puzzled. "But that thing said..." 

"They didn't disappear," Jim said. "They joined him." 

"Hey, that makes sense!" said Izzy. "It would sure explain the weird readings I was getting. Apocalymon isn't just one Digimon, he's hundreds, maybe thousands, all melded together..." 

"Maybe because each one felt like he was alone in the universe?" Matt suggested. 

"And in this universe, he is," said Tai, nodding. 

"I think I get it," said Izzy. "They went here because they lost hope... but just a minute ago, Apocalymon felt just for a little while that maybe he could be freed..." 

"And that's where the egg came from!" Jim concluded. 

"So if we get him convinced that he can get out of here, maybe he can - and us with him!" said Tai. "It's worth a shot, anyway. Hey! Apocalymon! Hold up a minute!" 

"Do you dare interrupt me?" Apocalymon said. "I will not spare your life; I have no mercy." 

"I think you do," said Sora. "Maybe deep down, but you still do. If you were truly heartless, you wouldn't hurt so much. It takes a heart to feel." 

"Then I want none of it," Apocalymon answered. "I wish that any heart I had could be taken away so I would no longer feel this anguish!" 

"You don't really mean that," said Mimi soothingly. "Be honest - what you really want is to be happy like everyone else." 

Apocalymon looked away from her disarming gaze. "It is impossible." 

"It is possible," said Izzy. "We think we've learned a way, and we can help you get out of here if you let us." 

"There is none! Don't you think I've tried everything already?" 

"You shouldn't give up," Jim told him. "Even when everything looks impossible, if you keep on fighting, sometimes things work out better than you expect." 

Kokuwamon tugged on Jim's shirt. "I think it's working! Look, there goes another egg! Keep it up!" 

"Give us a chance," said Tai. "We'll help you, if you let us." 

Apocalymon's eyes narrowed. "Why would you want to help me?" 

Matt shrugged. "Maybe we want to be friends?" 

The dark creature stared, amazed. Then his expression twisted into a snarl. 

"I want none of your lies!" he roared. 

"Guys, we're losing him," Joe said. "Someone do something, fast!" 

"Like what?" Tai demanded. "At this point, I'm open to suggestions." 

There was a moment of silence. Then Kari said, "Make TK do something." 

Everyone stared at her. 

"Have you gone crazy?" Matt demanded. 

"No," she said. "I just meant that he's got the Crest of Hope, right? If anyone can do it, he can." 

"What can I do?" asked TK, eyes wide. 

Izzy looked at Apocalymon, then shrugged. "Give that guy some hope." 

"Well, okay," said the little boy. "Maybe I can do that... I think..." 

He reached for his Crest, and held it close to his heart, head bowed almost prayerfully. A bright golden light began to shine from it, beaming through his fingers to bathe Apocalymon in golden light. The dark creature yelped and tried to back away. 

"Not quite enough," said Joe. 

"Yeah, but maybe we can help," said Matt. "Maybe if we give all our hopes to TK..." 

"Like I did earlier with Megadramon?" asked Jim. "It's worth a shot." 

One by one, the children and their Digimon bowed their heads, turning their thoughts to the future. They thought of the families they wished to see again, the salvation of the Digital World, their dreams for the future... and gradually, each one was surrounded by golden light. Jim opened his eyes a slit to see if it was working and got a surprise. Everyone was glowing brightly, and in that brightness, he could see indistinct figures. Standing behind each child was a proud man or a beautiful woman. Behind each small Digimon was a larger one. Some he recognized, like MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon, but he saw also a gleaming bird, a beautiful rose-woman, a golden beetle, a mighty sea-beast, and pink dragon, and standing behind TK was an... 

An angel burst into view in the place where Patamon had been seconds before - not Angemon, but an unfamiliar being garbed in royal armor of gold, silver, and purple. A sword was strapped to one wrist. 

"What are you?" Apocalymon demanded. 

"I am Magna Angemon," he replied, "the Angel of Hope. Your suffering is at an end. Behold the Gate of Destiny!" 

He flourished his sword, and in the dark void, a golden portal opened, spilling out blinding light. The children tried to look into it, but it dazzled their eyes. All anyone could catch was a fleeting glimpse of Apocalymon staring into the portal with the beginnings of a smile of wonder crossing his face, and then everything exploded into brilliance... 

~*~

Tai came slowly awake. He was lying on the grass, with sunshine beaming down on his face. Leaves whispered overhead in a breeze he couldn't feel. Something seemed to be sitting o his chest. He had an odd sense of deja vu. 

"I don't care how good a job we did; I'm not going to do it again," he muttered. 

"Tai, are you okay?" asked a concerned voice. "It's me, Agumon! We're back in the Digital World." 

"That's what I thought." 

Tai sat up and opened his eyes. They were lying in a clearing, one not so different if not identical to the one where he had first awakened, days or months ago, to find a talking pink basketball sitting on him. All around him lay the other Digidestined, either still sleeping or just waking, being attended by concerned partners. 

"I guess we did it," said Tai. "Cool. Is everybody okay?" 

Everyone was. After a few moments, the rest of the team was revived, walking around and stretching their legs. 

"Man, that was some experience," said Matt. "Not one I'd want to have again, but definitely an experience." 

"So, did we win?" asked Mimi. 

"I think so," Sora replied. "At least we aren't still in that dark place." 

"But what happened to Apocalymon?" asked Joe. "What if he isn't gone? What if we just set him loose to run around the countryside." 

In reply, there was a shout from beyond the trees; it sounded as if the youngest Digidestined had made a discovery. 

"Hey, everyone!" they shouted. "Come look what we found!" 

The older children came running... and then stopped. Lying in the middle of a small glade was a huge pile of eggs, reaching up higher than their heads. They made a fantastic display as the sun played over their myriad colors and designs. 

"Here's your Apocalymon," said Jim, smiling. "Ready for a second chance." 

"Oh, cool!" said TK. "Let's hatch a few! I want to play with the babies!" 

As he spoke, a striped egg came tumbling down the side of the pile, bouncing until it came to rest at Jim's feet. 

"Okay," he said, picking up the egg and looking bemused. "How do you hatch an egg? I hope no one expects me to sit on it." 

"Nah, you just rub on it," TK explained. "Go on, try it!" 

"Oh. All right." 

Jim obediently rubbed the side of the egg. Instantly, it began to tremble, and there was a puff of smoke as it burst open, leaving Jim holding a tiny ball of grey fur with eyes. 

"Hey!" it exclaimed. "Boy, am I glad to get out of that thing. It is _stuffy_ in there! Hi, there, Jim - told you I'd be back!" 

Jim laughed. "Puppetmon, is that you?" 

"Well, Yuramon now," the Digimon replied. 

Kari giggled. "Aw, you make a cute baby!" 

"I do not!" 

She picked him up and hugged him, making him blush furiously, and he said, "All right, maybe a little cute." 

"That was fun!" said TK. "Come on, let's hatch a few more!" 

"I think you had better think more carefully about how you use your time," a new voice interjected. 

The kids spun around. Standing where he had not been before was Gennai, regarding them all solemnly. 

"What do you mean?" asked Tai. "We aren't on a time clock or anything, are we?" 

"In a sense," said Gennai. "You have completed your mission to save the Digital World. For that, I must congratulate you. However, in doing that, you have also released it from the Dark Masters' hold. It will be re-formed into what it once was." 

"But that's good, right?" asked Matt. 

"Yes," said Gennai, "but it also means that you cannot remain here much longer." 

"Why not?" asked Jim. "I was just starting to like it here!" 

"Because, if any of you remain here, you will be caught up in the data stream and be absorbed into the Digital World," said Gennai, "and then your data will be deleted. Nothing of you would be left." 

"What?" asked Tai. "You mean, we're going to die now? That's a lousy way to pay us back for saving the world." 

"You will not die," Gennai corrected. "I have arranged transport back to your own world. A portal between your worlds is opening soon, and you will be able to go home. You have one hour to say goodbye to your partners." Seeing the looks on their faces, his expression softened. "I am sorry. It's all I can do." 

"But we can come back, right?" asked Sora. 

Gennai shrugged. "That is a mystery, even to me. Perhaps someday the gate will open again... but until then, you should be talking to someone else besides me. Go on, now. I'll be waiting here. Keep your eye on the sun - there's going to be an eclipse. As soon as it reaches its darkest point, the portal will open, so be back before then!" 

The children nodded and wandered off, each in their own direction to say their goodbyes to their Digimon. Jim found himself walking along the seaside, hopping from rock to rock with Kokuwamon at his side. 

"Kinda reminds me of the place we first met," Jim said. 

"A little," said Kokuwamon, "but it wasn't so wet." 

"Yeah..." He sighed. "It was only a couple of days ago. Can you believe it? It seems like we've known each other longer than that." 

"Maybe we have." 

"How do you mean?" 

"Well... I think, in a way, I've always known you," said Kokuwamon. "At least, I knew I was meant for you. That's almost the same thing, isn't it?" 

"Almost," said Jim, "but now we have to say goodbye... and I don't really know how to say it. I'm going to miss you so much, Koku. You're the best friend I've ever had." 

"I'm going to miss you, too..." 

"Oh, come on now, don't cry! You'll short your circuits!" 

"It's nothing. I've just... got sand in my gears, that's all." He made a grinding sound that reminded Jim distinctly of a sniffle. 

"I wish we didn't have to be apart," said Jim, kicking angrily at a stray rock. "I can't stand losing you like this." 

"You won't lose me," said Kokuwamon. "Even before I met you, I was always your partner. That won't change if we're apart again. No matter where I am or where you are, I'm always going to be your Koku, just like I promised." 

"Thanks," said Jim. "And I promise I'll always be your JimHyumon." 

All too soon, it was time to leave. As the sunlight ebbed away, humans and Digimon gathered by the side of the ocean to find a trolley car waiting for them. The children gave their partners final hugs and goodbyes, and then, sniffling and trying to hold back tears, they filed onto the trolley car. As the door closed, its headlights snapped on by themselves, and the car shook. It rose into the air, wheels spinning on nothing at all as it trundled towards the sun. The children leaned out the windows, waving. 

"Bye, Agumon! Take care!" 

"Stay out of trouble, Gomamon!" 

"Patamon, don't forget me!" 

"I'll find a way back to you, Tentomon! Just wait and see!" 

"Don't worry, Gatomon! I'll be waiting for you!" 

"Take good care of my harmonica! I'm coming back for it!" 

"I'll see you again, Biyomon! I promise!" 

"Goodbye, Palmon! I love you!" 

Jim was silent as he waved his last goodbye. There was nothing else he needed to say, but he kept his eyes on that silver glint until it was lost from sight. Then he settled back into his seat with a sigh, watching the sun draw closer. He wiped away a tear. Kokuwamon was right; they'd always be a part of each other, no matter where they were. They'd always bee the best of friends... but looking around, he knew he'd never be completely alone, not with friends like these. He had a lot to look forward to, in his own world, like the chance to get to know all of them better, the knowledge he'd be closer to his brother than they'd ever been before, and the hope that someday, somehow, he would come back to the Digital World.... 

**

THE END

**

(or is it...?)


End file.
